I. K. Gujral

Date of Birth:	4 December 1919
Place of Birth:	Jhelum, Punjab
Prime Minister of India
Tenure Order:	12th Prime Minister
Political Party:	Janata Dal
Took Office:	21 April 1997
Left Office:	19 March 1998
Predecessor:	H D Deve Gowda
Successor:	A B Vajpayee

Inder Kumar Gujral (born 4 December 1919) was the twelfth Prime Minister of the Republic of India.

Born in the town of Jhelum, which is now in the northeastern area of Pakistan, he actively took part in India's freedom struggle, and was jailed in 1942 during 'Quit India Movement'.

Before becoming the Prime Minister of India in April 1997, he served the country as Union Minister of State holding different portfolios in the Ministries of Communications and Parliamentary Affairs, Information & Broadcasting, Works & Housing, Planning and Ministry of External Affairs.

As the envoy to Moscow, he persuaded Indira Gandhi, who lost an election in 1977 but returned to power in 1980, to express opposition to the Soviet Union's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan. That was a break from India's earlier record of supporting Soviet military ventures in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and it led Mrs. Gandhi to privately inform Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev that the Kremlin had blundered in Afghanistan.

He speaks fluent Urdu, the national language of Pakistan, and spends part of his leisure time writing Urdu couplets, a poetic form that traces back to India's Mogul emperors. His wife, Sheila, with whom he has two sons, is a poet and author, and his brother Satish Gujral is a prominent architect.

In 2004, his son Naresh Gujral contested with an SAD seat from Jalandhar, Punjab constituency in the Indian General Elections, but lost.

Preceded by: H. D. Deve Gowda

Prime Minister of India 1997—1998

Followed by: Atal Behari Vajpayee