Yashwantrao Chavan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 5th Deputy Prime Minister of India | |
| In office 28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980 | |
| Prime Minister | Charan Singh |
| Preceded by | Charan Singh Jagjivan Ram |
| Succeeded by | Chaudhary Devi Lal |
| Minister of Home Affairs | |
| In office 28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980 | |
| Prime Minister | Charan Singh |
| Preceded by | Hirubhai M. Patel |
| Succeeded by | Zail Singh |
| In office 14 November 1966 – 27 June 1970 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Gulzarilal Nanda |
| Succeeded by | Indira Gandhi |
| Minister of External Affairs | |
| In office 10 October 1974 – 24 March 1977 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Sardar Swaran Singh |
| Succeeded by | Atal Bihari Vajpayee |
| Minister of Finance | |
| In office 27 June 1970 – 10 October 1974 | |
| Prime Minister | Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Indira Gandhi |
| Succeeded by | Chidambaram Subramaniam |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 14 November 1962 – 13 November 1966 | |
| Prime Minister | Jawaharlal Nehru Gulzarilal Nanda(Interim) Lal Bahadur Shastri Gulzarilal Nanda(Interim) Indira Gandhi |
| Preceded by | Jawaharlal Nehru |
| Succeeded by | Sardar Swaran Singh |
| 1st Chief Minister of Maharashtra | |
| In office 1 May 1960 – 14 November 1962 | |
| Preceded by | Office Established Himself for Bombay State |
| Succeeded by | Marotrao Kannamwar |
| 3rd Chief Minister of Bombay State | |
| In office 1 November 1956 – 30 April 1960 | |
| Preceded by | Morarji Desai |
| Succeeded by | Office Abolished
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (1913-03-12)12 March 1913 |
| Resting place | Yashwantrao Chavan Samadhi,Karad |
| Party | Indian National Congress(Before 1977; 1981–1984) |
| Other political affiliations | Indian National Congress-Urs(1977) Indian National Congress-Socialist(1978–1981) |
| Spouse | |
| Alma mater | University of Mumbai, ILS Law College |
| Website | www.yashwantraochavan.in |
Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (Marathi pronunciation:[jəʃʋənt̪ɾaːʋt͡səʋʱaːɳ]; 12 March 1913) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as 5thDeputy Prime Minister of India in the short-livedCharan Singh ministry in 1979. He served as the lastChief Minister ofBombay State and the first ofMaharashtra after the latter was created by the division of Bombay State. His also held significant ministerial post was as the 8thMinister of Finance from 1970 to 1971 and from 1971 to 1974.
He was a strong Congress leader, co-operative leader, social activist and writer. He was popularly known asLeader of Common People. He advocated social democracy in his speeches and articles and was instrumental in establishing co-operatives in Maharashtra for the betterment of the farmers.[1]
Yashwantrao Chavan was born in aKshatriya-Maratha[2][3] family on 12 March 1913 in the village of Devrashtre inSatara District (now inSangli District) ofMaharashtra, India. He had three siblings. Chavan lost his father in his early childhood and was brought up by his uncle and mother. His mother taught him about self-dependency and patriotism. From childhood, he was fascinated by the freedom struggle of India.[citation needed]
Chavan was an active participant in the struggle for independence of India. As a schoolboy inKarad in 1930, he was fined for his participation in theNon-cooperation Movement led byMahatma Gandhi. In 1932, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hoisting the Indian flag in Satara. During this period, he came in contact with Swami Ramanand Bharti,Dhulappa Bhaurao Navale, Gaurihar (Appasaheb) Sihasane, V. S. Page and Govind Kruparam Wani. Their friendship lasted forever.[citation needed]
After completing his high school education from Tilak High school Karad in 1934, he joined theRajaram College,Kolhapur. In 1938, after obtaining his B.A. degree in history andpolitical science (awarded byBombay University) he joinedLaw College ofPune. After obtaining his law degree (LLB awarded by Bombay University) in 1941, he started practice as a criminal lawyer at Karad. In 1942, he married Venutai atPhaltan in Satara district, in a match arranged by their families.
During his college years, Chavan was involved in many social activities and was closely associated with theCongress party and its leaders, such asJawaharlal Nehru,Sardar Patel andKeshavrao Jedhe. In 1940, he became President of Satara District Congress. Chavan was one of the delegates at the Bombay session of theA.I.C.C. in 1942 that gave the call forQuit India. He went "underground" before being arrested for his participation in the movement.[4] He spent around two years in jail, and was released only in 1944.[5]
In 1946, Yashwantrao was first elected as Member of Legislative Assembly of theBombay State from theSouth Satara constituency. In the same year he was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Home Minister of Bombay State. In the next government ofMorarji Desai he was appointed Minister of Civil Supplies, Social Welfare and Forests. In 1953 he was a signatory to theNagpur Pact that assured equitable development of all regions of what is now the state ofMaharashtra. The 1950s witnessed theSamyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Movement) leading struggle for United Maharashtra with Bombay (now Mumbai) as its capital. Chavan never joined theSamyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Movement) and in fact called Prime Minister Nehru, who opposed formation of language based state reorganization, as "Greater than Maharashtra".[6]
In the 1957 Assembly elections Yashwantrao Chavan was elected from theKarad constituency. This time he was elected as Leader of Congress Legislative Party, and became Chief Minister of the bilingualBombay state. The election saw the Congress party losing badly in the Marathi speaking areas to the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti. However, he was able to persuade Nehru to agree to form Maharashtra and therefore he is regarded as the chief architect in the formation ofMarathi speaking state of Maharashtra.
On 1 May 1960, Yashwantrao Chavan became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra.[7] From 1957 to 1960 he also served on the All India Congress Working Committee.
Chavan's vision for Maharashtra for the development envisaged the equal development of both the industrial and agricultural sectors across all the regions of the state. He sought to realize this vision through theco-operative movement. Legislation regarding democratic decentralized bodies and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act were passed during his tenure as Chief Minister.[citation needed]
After the resignation ofKrishna Menon as Defense Minister in 1962 in the wake of India-China Border Conflict, Yashwantrao was given that portfolio by Prime ministerJawaharlal Nehru.[8] He handled the delicate post-war situation firmly and took several decisions to empower the armed forces and negotiated, along with Pandit Nehru, with China to end the hostilities. He also held the Defense portfolio in theLal Bahadur Shastri Government during the Indo-Pakistan War of September 1965.
In the by-elections in 1962, Chavan was elected unopposed as Member of Parliament from theNashik parliamentary constituency. On 14 November 1966, he was appointed Home Minister of India by Prime minister,Indira Gandhi. Yeshwantrao came in for criticism at the time of the first congress split in 1969. He had stuck to his earlier commitment to vote for the official Congress candidate,Sanjeeva Reddy in the presidential elections and in doing so, had invited the ire of Mrs. Indira Gandhi, but later be shifted his ground and supported her. In doing so, he exposed himself to the charge of duplicity and of being a fence-sitter. According to Hatalkar, it might be said in his favour that he had nothing in common with theSyndicate faction of the Congress party but was fully in rapport with Mrs. Gandhi's views, if not her methods, that his prime anxiety was to maintain the unity of the Congress, but that when he found that the split was inevitable, he did not succumb to the blandishments held out before him by some members of the Syndicate.[9]
On 26 June 1970, she appointed him the Finance Minister of India. During his term, Indian economy went into recession for the first time since 1966 and real GDP growth fell by 0.55% in 1972.
He was appointed as the Foreign Minister on 11 October 1974. In June 1975, anInternal State of Emergency was declared in India by theIndira Gandhi Government. This period saw a severe crackdown on leaders and parties opposed to Mrs. Gandhi's rule. Yashwantrao remained in her Government during this period. In the subsequent general elections 1977, the Congress was routed with the party leader and Prime minister,Indira Gandhi herself losing her parliamentary seat. Therefore, in the new Parliament, Chavan was elected the Congress Party Parliamentary leader. As Congress now the biggest opposition party, he became the Leader of opposition.
The annual session of the Congress party was held in Bengaluru at the end of 1978. On this occasion, the party suffered a split, and two separate political parties emerged, namelyCongress (Indira) andCongress (Urs). While the former was led byIndira Gandhi, the latter was led byDevaraj Urs, powerfulChief Minister of Mysore. The other important leaders who joined the Congress Urs wereDev Kant Baruah,Kasu Brahmananda Reddy,Sharad Pawar,A.K. Antony,Sarat Chandra Sinha,Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Yashwantrao Chavan. On the other side, Indira Gandhi's new party included leaders likeShankar Dayal Sharma,Umashankar Dikshit,Chidambaram Subramaniam, Kamruddin Ali Ahmad,Abdul Rehman Antulay andGulabrao Patil.[citation needed]
Yashwantrao Chavan's political career suffered a major setback following his decision to move away from Indira Gandhi. Devaraj Urs himself soon joined theJanata Party, following which the Congress(Urs) was renamed theIndian Congress (Socialist). Yeshwantrao was appointed as Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India in the short-lived cabinet of Prime MinisterCharan Singh in 1979.
In the general elections of January 1980, Congress (I) won a majority in Parliament and came to power under the leadership of Indira Gandhi. In this election, Yashwantrao Chavan was the only candidate elected from Maharashtra as MP on a Congress(S) ticket. In 1981, Yashwantrao was allowed to return to the Indira-led Congress after a six-month wait. Critics at that time commented that the "Fence-sitter has come home to roost".[9]
In 1982, he was appointed the Chairman of the8th Finance Commission of India. He died in 1984.
Chavan held many important positions during a long and distinguished career. These included:
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Chief Minister of Maharashtra 1960–1962 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Defence 1962–1966 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Home Affairs 1966–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Finance 1970–1974 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of External Affairs 1974–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister of India 1979–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | ||
| Preceded by | Minister of Home Affairs 1979–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman, Finance Commission 1984-84 | Succeeded by |
Chavan held all the senior portfolios in the Indian government such as Finance Defence, Home, and External Affairs. His last position was as deputy prime minister in the short lived Charan singh government. He brought important changes in all fields where he held power, he also played crucial role in rebuilding Indian army back after 1962 Sino India War. After his appointment as Defence Minister, he rapidly expanded and modernized military and restored it's dignity which directly helped India in 1971 war.[10][11] He also played crucial role in 1965 India Pakistan War.[12][13] Yashwantrao Chavan died of a heart attack on 25 November 1984 in Delhi. He was 71. He was cremated inKarad with full state honours on 27 November and hisSamadhi (resting place) is situated atKrishna-Koyna Pritisangam.
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Yashwantrao Chavan took a keen interest in literature. He established the Marathi Sahitya Mandal and supported the Marathi Sahitya Sammelan(Conference). He was very closely associated with many poets, editors and several Marathi and Hindi writers. He initiated compilation ofMarathi Vishwakosh (a Marathi language encyclopedia). For this, he nominatedLakshman Shastri Joshi as a chairman. He had planned to write his autobiography in three parts. The first part covers his early years in Satara district. Since his native place is situated on the banks of Krishna River he named the first volume asKrishna Kath. His years as the Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay state and later as that of the newly formed Maharashtra state were spent in Bombay and so the proposed name for the second volume was "Sagar Tir". Later in 1962 he was appointed Defence Minister of India by Nehru. From then he was in Delhi until his death in 1984; so he had proposed the name "Yamuna Kath" for his third volume. He was able to complete and publish only the first volume.
Yashwantrao Chavan Bakhar Eka Vaadalaachi, a 2014 IndianMarathi-language biographical film byJabbar Patel covers his role as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.Ashok Lokhande portrayed the titular role of Chavan.[17]
He was portrayed byVijay Kashyap in the Indian historical drama web seriesRocket Boys (2022–), which chronicles the lives of scientists Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai and highlights Chavan's political support for India's scientific advancements.[18][19][20]
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