Education
A native of Kolkata, Vishnu Kant Shastri completed his Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Laws and Master of Arts from the University of Calcutta and chose to become a lecturer in Hindi.
A native of Kolkata, Vishnu Kant Shastri completed his Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Laws and Master of Arts from the University of Calcutta and chose to become a lecturer in Hindi.
He was also an academician, scholar, poet, philosopher, author, critic, orator, editor and administrator. After 41 years, he retired as Acharya of the Hindi department of the University of Calcutta in 1994, marking the end of his academic career. He was appointed Governor of Himachal Pradesh on December 2, 1999, serving until November 23, 2000 and, the following day, November 24, was sworn in as Governor of Uttar Pradesh, where he served until 2004, less than a year before his death.
Two weeks before his 76th birthday, Vishnu Kant Shastri was travelling on the Danapur Express to Patna, intending to provide a discourse on Gita, when he suffered a fatal heart attack.
They had one daughter, Bharti Sharma, who survives him.
Associated with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he entered active politics and served as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in 1977. He went on to become one of the founding members of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1980 and a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1992.