About:
- He was the fifth President of India from 1974 to 1977 and also the second President of the country to die in office after Zakir Hussain.
- He issued the proclamation of emergency in 1975 by signing the papers after a meeting with Indira Gandhi the same day.
- Ali Ahmed participated in the freedom struggle of India with an active role in the Quit India Movement against the British rule in 1942.
Role in the Indian National Congress:
- Ahmed joined the Indian National Congress as a primary member in 1931 and was a member of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee, the Working Committee of the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee and the All India Congress Committee since 1936 except for short breaks.
- He was a member of the Working Committee of the All India Congress Committee in 1946-47 and again from 1964 to 1974 during which period he was also a member of the Parliamentary Board of the party.
Electoral career in pre-Independence India:
- Ahmed was elected to the legislative assembly of Assam in the provincial elections of 1937 which were held in accordance with the Government of India Act, 1935.
- He was one of three Muslim ministers in the Congress government headed by Gopinath Bordoloi, serving as Minister for Finance, Revenue and Labour from 20 September, 1938 to 16 November, 1939.
- In his budget for 1939-40, Ahmed introduced several new taxes including an agricultural income tax and a tax on sale of goods and his proposals sought to eliminate the state’s revenue deficit.
- The Agricultural Income Tax Bill, Sales Tax Bill and the Amusement & Betting Tax Bills were introduced by Ahmed and got passed by the Assembly.
- The tax on agricultural income imposed a levy on the profits of the tea industry, a part of which was to be used for the welfare of workers in the tea plantations, but this was against the interest of European firms in this sector.
- This, and the pro-labour stance he took during the strike in the Assam Oil Company, was deemed inimical to British commercial interests in Assam but won much public support for the Bordoloi Ministry.
- Congress Ministries across India resigned in protest against the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s action of declaring India a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting them.
- In 1940, Ahmed was arrested and imprisoned for a year when he offered individual satyagraha on Gandhi’s behest.
- After the launch of the Quit India Movement, Ahmed along with several other leaders of the Assam Provincial Congress Committee was arrested on 9 August, 1942.
- Ahmed was thereafter appointed the Advocate General of Assam, a post he held until 1952.
- Ahmed was opposed to the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan and to the Partition of India along communal lines.
- However, in the elections of 1946, while the Congress won the majority of seats to form a government in Assam under Gopinath Bordoloi, Ahmed was defeated in the North Kamrup constituency by the Muslim League’s Moulvi Abdul Hye.
Career in independent India:
- In April 1954, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha and was its member until he resigned in March 1957.
- He contested and won the 1957 and 1962 Assam Legislative Assembly elections
- Under the governments, Ahmed served as Minister of Finance, Law, Community Development, Panchayats and Local Self Government during 1957-1962 and was the Minister of Finance, Law, Community Development and Panchayats during 1962-66.
- Ahmed played a role in scuttling Chief Minister Chaliha’s attempts at enforcing the Prevention of Infiltrators Plan which, based on the National Register of Citizens, 1951, sought to identify and deport illegal migrants to Assam.
