New Delhi: Former President K R Narayanan's wife Usha Narayanan, who carved a niche for herself as a champion of social and women's issues, died on Thursday in a city hospital after ailing for sometime.
Usha, 86, the only person of foreign origin to have become the country's First Lady, breathed her last at 5.30 p.m. at the Gangaram Hospital in west Delhi.
She had been rushed to the hospital on December 31 for blood transfusion due to a severe drop in haemoglobin level.
K R Narayananan served as President from July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002. He died on November 9, 2005.
A prolific writer, Usha was fiercely independent and always believed that women can be the determining force in taking sustainable development to a new high.
Born as Ma Tint Tint in 1923 in Burma, now Myanmar, she adopted the name Usha and became an Indian citizen after marrying Narayanan on June 8, 1951.
Their marriage needed a special clearance from Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru because Narayanan was in the Indian Foreign Service and Usha was a foreigner.
Usha worked with the All India Radio for many years, translating and broadcasting news and also moderating discussions in its external services.
Usha always believed that women can be the determining force in taking sustainable development to a new high.
"Reserving 33 per cent seats at the grassroots democratic bodies and election of almost one million women to such bodies is a good example of empowering women," she had once told a global conference.
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