Dr D Y Patil.. The real King.. Lives life Kingsize..

Last year, sometime in August, I got a call from a VIP number. It had said that I have read your blog on Symbiosis Founder President Dr S B Mujumdar and I liked it very much. I will be coming to Pune soon and come to meet me!, It was Dr D Y Patil alias Dnyandeo Yashwantrao Patil, eminent educationist, founder of Dr D Y Patil University and currently Governor of Tripura. He is an educator and a leader of the Indian National Congress from Maharashtra state.


It was a shock and a pleasant surprise at the same time to have received the call from such a great personality. Subsequently I got to meet him, and I found him to be an amazing and lovely person. We talked on various subjects, and those 4-5 hours transformed our relationship in to friendship! Since then, on every visit to Pune he calls me for lunch/dinner and then we spend hours and hours, discussing not only politics but many other topics. At the age of 77 years he live life King size. He has indeed the heart of a King, he speaks only good about everyone.

Dr. D.Y. Patil is a well known educationist and philanthropist from Kolhapur located in the state of Maharashtra. Born in a small village of Ambap on Oct 22, 1935 in Kolhapur district he dreamt of spreading education and healthcare to the masses of India and revolutionized the educational sector in Maharashtra. He is the founder president of D. Y. Patil Educational Academy, Ramrao Adik Education Society and Dr. D. Y. Patil Pratishthan, D. Y. Patil Education Society & Continental Medicare Foundation. He has also founded D. Y. Patil college of Engineering and Technology at Kolhapur and D Y Patil College of Engineering at Pune in 1984. He received the Padma Shri award in 1991 for social work. He got the degrees like M. A., LL. B., Ph. D. He is associated with a large number of educational, social and cultural activities. He has devoted himself to the cause of education. Eminent citizens representing various educational, social and industrial interests, are members of the Board of Trustees of these organizations.

Through his noble work and realized dreams, Dr. D. Y. Patil has contributed significantly to the cause of Education and healthcare. Through his various educational and healthcare schemes and policies he would like to see India grow and become a self supporting and leading nation. His vision is to make education and health care available to all, especially to the poor and needy, and to the deprived and downtrodden.

Dr. D. Y. Patil has focused his energies for the cause of education, with emphasis on professional education areas. He is of the opinion that the education patterned to train the students to face the challenges and ever changing job/skill requirements on account of globalization without forgetting ethos of rich Indian culture is bound to transform the society and thereby make India a strong, self supporting and leading nation. His preference is for actual implementation of his concepts rather than merely preaching.

Dr D Y Patil was elected to the Kolhapur Municipal Council as a Congress candidate in 1957 and remained in office until 1962. He was the member of the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha from 1967-78. In both the 1967 and 1972 elections, he was elected from Panhala Vidhan Sabha constituency. He was appointed the governor of Tripura state on November 21, 2009 and took the oath of office and secrecy on November 27, 2009.

A sports lover, Tripura Governor Dr D.Y. Patil visited London to witness the opening ceremony of the Olympics at his own expense. ”I had taken leave and visited London at our own cost to witness the opening ceremony. I won’t take a single rupee from the government or won’t enjoy any official benefit during the visit”, Patil said. He added, “As a sports lover, I had also attended Helsinki and Beijing Olympics in 1952 and 2008.”

Dr D Y Patil has been drawing Re.1 as monthly salary instead of Rs.110,000 after he became the 12th governor of Tripura Nov 27, 2009. He has visited many interior and tribal-dominated areas and taken personal initiative to implement developmental projects. ”The centre and the state have a common aim to flush-out militancy from the northeastern states,” he said. Patil has also sponsored trips for budding cricketers and young people to watch the Indian Premier League (IPL) and other cricket matches in Mumbai and several other places.

It is always a pleasure to meet him as I get to learn many things from him which are lifetime useful for us. I also traveled with him. His one more specialty is his hospitality. He insists to join everyone for lunch/dinner those are present at that time. He also participates with us on same table with equal menu. I got the pleasure to have meal with him almost more than 20 times! He is an extremely hospitable host and will make every attempt to ensure that the guests are treated well, and he takes personal effort towards this!

One more specialty I found, if you shake hand with him you get some power & energy and he passes very positive waves. I also wonder about his enthusiasm as I have never seen him tired and upset. He is always a happy man! He doesn’t take rest in the afternoon. He likes to discuss various things with various people from different-different sector. He is very simple & humble person indeed! He is the true friend and always keeps in touch with the concerns though he is at Tripura, Kolhapur, Mumbai, Pune or even London! He keeps calling his friends and the others and always cares about them. I remember he called me from London this year after the opening ceremony of Olympic-2012. One day, I went to meet him with somebody at his Koregaon Park’s bungalow & that person left early. Afterwards when I left, Dr Patil called me and said, I feel very sad that you travelled by auto despite so many cars here. I told him that your driver dropped me by your car only then he got relief. It shows his humanity and how that person is down-to-earth and genuine.

Today is his 77th birthday and wish him good health and peaceful long life ahead..!!

Happy Birthday, Dada!

Vilasrao Deshmukh – The real political superhero…

(My old photo with Late Shri Vilasraoji Deshmukh, taken in year 2000)

In our movies we see the hero coming back strongly, I thought that it was an intermission before the climax as in every movie, but it was not to be. Unfortunately our hero didn’t come back. He will never come again. He took his last breath on 14th August 2012 at Chennai’s Global Hospital. I am talking about Late Vilasraoji Deshmukh, a well-known personality in politics and in social circles.

I met Vilasraoji for the first time in 1998 at his Mumbai residence in Poorna building regarding an interview. Little did I know then that I was with one of the finest leaders of Maharashtra, as was rightly predicted by Lonavala’s Swami Vidyanand long ago. His personality, in the trademark Black T-shirt and Cream colored trouser provided a fine glimpse of his ‘full of life’ vigor. It was raining heavily. While under the shelter of Vilasraoji’s umbrella, I showed him the magazine in which I had published Swamiji’s prediction stating that he was due for a big opportunity at the end of 1999. In reply Vilasraoji said, “I am not even a MLA now and a big opportunity is a distant dream, but I am always a CM in waiting”. I didn’t know what to say, but could only see the underlying tremendous confidence.

Vilasraoji was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra in October 1999. His elder son, Amit was impressed with the prediction, and since then we both have been good friends, occasionally visiting each other’s house. Just after being crowned the CM, I got an opportunity to meet Vilasraoji Deshmukh at Tilak Smarak Mandir, Pune.

Vilasraoji Deshmukh was born on May 26, 1945. Deshmukh entered active politics and became member of the Babhalgaon Village Panchayat from 1974 to 1980 and its Sarpanch (village chief) from 1974 to 1976. He was a member of Osmanabad Zilla Parishad and Deputy Chairman of Latur Taluka Panchayat Samiti (Latur District Panchayat Committee) from 1974 to 1980. As a President of Osmanabad District Youth Congress from 1975 to 1978, he worked for the implementation of Five Point Programme of the Youth Congress. He organized the youth in Osmanabad district and became President of District wing of the Indian National Congress. He was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra 2 times.

Vilasraoji lost the election in 1995 by a margin of 35000 votes. He was re-elected to the State Legislature from Latur Constituency in the elections held in September 1999 with a strong comeback winning with a margin of nearly 91,000 in two successive elections, the highest in Maharashtra. He took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on October 18, 1999. He was Chief Minister until 17 January 2003.

He served as Minister of Science and Technology and Minister of Earth Sciences. Vilasraoji was a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha, India. He has previously held the posts of Minister of Rural Development and Minister of Panchayati Raj, Government of India and Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Government of India. He was a member of Rajya Sabha representing Maharashtra. Vilasraoji Deshmukh was two-time Chief Minister of Maharashtra, from 1999 to 2003 and from 2004 to 2008. He was a member of the Indian National Congress and originally belonged to Latur district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra. After Vasantrao Naik he got long perod as CM. in 1982, Latur became district from Osmanabad from a small taluka. Now, Osmanabad is known as a neighbor of Latur!

Vilasraoji founded the Manjra Charitable Trust which runs a number of colleges in Latur & Mumbai. Some of them are Manajara Ayurvedic Medical College & Hospital Latur, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Technology at Versova, Andheri in Mumbai and Sushiladevi Deshmukh Vidyalaya at Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

Vilasraoji was known for his jolly and warm nature; well-cultured, fresh, handsome, humorous vibrant, ever-smiling and an extrovert. He was a rebeller, fighter, visionary, strong and steady person taking everybody along with him. His strong presence of mind made him an exceptional conversationalist. He was a great leader, a smart administrator and an apt person for the portfolio of arts, sports and culture. An avid singer himself, Vilasraoji liked Gulam Ali’s gazals and Mohammad Rafi’s songs. He was keenly interested in Volleyball, Table Tennis and Cricket.

During his career Vilasraoji traveled to countries like Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Phillipines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Germany, France, United Kingdon, yet he remained close to his roots and ensured development of his native Latur. He was proud of his rural traditions and strictly followed them. He groomed his family very well, and today the entire Deshmukh family is known as a decent and well-cultured family.

A distinct specialty of Vilasraoji was that despite his busy schedule, he was always available on his mobile. He used to respond to every call and SMS. One day as I met him, he said “Rahul, I get your SMSes”. I thought he was complaining and I begged his pardon if I was disturbing him. He was spontaneous in his reply, “No problem, keep them sending!”.

I had attended several of his press conferences in Mumbai. He was too intelligent a conversationalist to be matched by anyone. When Thane’s Municipal Commissioner T Chandrashekhar was transferred, people protested and staged a Bandh to get his transfer cancelled. Media questioned Vilasraoji on why he was transferred despite doing a commendable job. His reply stunned the media, “Other deprived parts of our state should also get his able services!”.

Somebody once said that Narayan Rane and Patangarao Kadam are your competitors; they are in CM race. He said race may be in between Rane and Kadam. How can they be my competitors as I am already sitting in the CM’s chair?

Vilasraoji was a Star campaigner for Congress party. He took more than 200 assemblies in 2009 elections. He knew his party workers, constitution wise. He had strong relationship with all including the media. In recent Zilla Parishad elections Congress got majority only in Vilasraoji’s Latur District and Narayan Rane’s Sindhdurg district. It speaks about leadership. After his demise, it’s a big challenge before Congress for 2014 Loksabha & Assembly elections.

It was not an election campaign, neither were people brought in tempos. 8-10 lakh people attended his funeral, which speaks about his popularity. VVIPs; not only politicians but people from all sectors art, sport, bureaucrats, bollywood, science, education etc. came for his funeral through 34 flights! His cremation took place on 15 August at Babhalgaon, his village, in Latur district.

My tribute to Vilasraoji, Maharashtra’s history can’t be written without mentioning his remarkable contribution.

We pray for his soul to rest in peace.

Ajit Pawar – The leader who values his words

                                                                                            (Photo-Sangram Musale)

Committed, transparent, aggressive, leader, down-to-earth, straight-forward, great administrator and an intelligent politician. Yes, I am talking about Shri Ajit Pawar, popularly known as Dada (Elder Brother), currently serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Known for his quick decisions and blunt nature, Dada has a powerful aura in the society.


Dada follows simplicity. He is a powerful personality with immense multi-tasking ability. The fact that he simultaneously handles farming, poultry, bank, education institutes, cooperative sector, ministry and many more profiles, is a testimony of his ability. He believes in hard work and often says there is no short cut of success. He has huge fan following owing to the fact that he spends 80% of his time for social work and 20% for politics. In his busy schedule that starts at 6 am and gets over at 11 pm, he makes it a point to meet every single person who comes to meet him.

Dada is known as a trusted leader of thousands of activists from Maharashtra. He has achieved this status because of his thoughts, actions and achievements. Therefore, workers from every corner of the state do not hesitate to carry their grievance to Dada wherever he is. He is their trusted guide, he is their inspiration. One essential feature of Dada’s style of work is that whatever be the development activity he pours his heart into it. He is a leader who has the political willpower to resolve the problem of regional imbalance of Maharashtra with a penchant for natural justice. Every action by Dada is backed by firm conviction, definite approach, proper planning, imaginative vision and responsible administration. The famous line of Shree Samarth Ramdas, “Bole Taisa Chale” (Action as per words) applies to him perfectly. What he says, he commits, and does it at any cost. He says words should be backed by action! He is a practical person and doesn’t believe in making false commitments. His angle is always positive, social and works for the benefit of society rather than anybody’s personal benefit. After the late Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vasantdada Patil, only Shri Ajit Pawar has the honour of being addressed as “Dada”. This honor is a testament to his popularity.

Dada is the nephew of Shri Sharad Pawar, the Union Cabinet Minister of Agriculture and the chief of Nationalist Congress Party. Dada is the son of Shri Anantrao Pawar who was an elder brother of Shri Sharad Pawar. Shri Anantrao followed a less conventional career of working for V Shantaram’s Rajkamal studio. His paternal grandfather, Shri Govindrao Pawar was employed by the Baramati farmers’ Cooperative body (Sahakari Kharedi Vikri Sangh) whilst his grandmother, Smt Shardabai looked after the family farm at Katewadi, ten kilometers from Baramati in Pune district. She was serving at primary school and was member of Pune District Local Board.

Dada’s elder son Parth is same like Dada. He has completed his Business Management course from UK, whereas younger son Jay is also studying the same course in Mumbai. Dada’s wife Sunetra; who is known as Vahini has a lion’s share and support in Dada’s development. Vahini also follows and believes simplicity and never interferes in Dada’s political matters. She says, Dada is like a coconut, seems tough from outside but indeed very soft by nature and heart. His image was built as a rude person, but it’s neither arrogance nor rudeness; it’s his voice which is little louder than others which is a gift of nature. Along with Maharashtra; Dada takes care of his family. He is very sensitive & alert about his sons’ education & other activities. He is a responsible father. He tries to attend all family & friends functions if time permits. Whenever he gets time, he spends it with his family on an outing, travel, visit to farm house or dine with them. Though most of the time he stays in Mumbai, he likes food from rural Maharashtra, such as Bajari Bhakari & Harbhara daal (Bengal Gram) vegetable. He also like to listen various songs of Kishorkumar & Rajesh Khanna is his favourite actor. For his family, Dada’s presence itself is a part of most pleasure than anything else. Vahini says, in last some years he became pretty busy than earlier, but we have accepted it as we are well aware of his routine being a politician and his responsible portfolio.

Dada made his foray into politics in 1982 when he was elected to a sugar cooperative body. Later on he got elected as a chairman of the Pune District Co-operative Bank (PDC) in 1991. He remained in this position for over 15 years. During this period he was elected to Lok Sabha from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency. He later vacated his Lok Sabha seat in favour of his uncle, Shri Sharad Pawar who had then become a Defense minister in Shri P V Narasimha Rao’s government.

Thereafter, he was elected as a Member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) from Baramati Vidhan Sabha constituency in 1991. He went on to become minister of state for Agriculture and Power (June 1991 – Nov 1992) in Shri Sudhakarrao Naik’s government. Later he became minister of state for Soil Conservation, Power and Planning (Nov 1992 – Feb 1993) when Shri Sharad Pawar returned to the state as chief minister.

In 1999, when Congress-NCP combine came into power, Dada was promoted to the rank of a cabinet minister. He became minister for the coveted Irrigation department (Oct 1999 – Dec 2003) in Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh’s government. He was given additional charge of Rural Development department (Dec 2003 – Oct 2004) in Shri Sushilkumar Shinde’s government.

In 2004, When Congress-NCP combine returned to power he retained the Water Resources ministry (name changed from Irrigation department to Water Resources department) (Nov 2004 – Oct 2009) in Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh’s government and later in Shri Ashok Chavan’s government. He also became the Guardian minister for Pune district in 2004 and has held the post since then.

I met him several times during the last decade. I found him a very dynamic & capable person. If your work is legal, he will immediately do it. If not, then he will clearly say not possible don’t come again with such type of work. I liked it. When I asked him on this, he said, I don’t want to waste people’s time & money. Many poor people come from rural places and can’t afford to stay in Mumbai. It’s in vain to come to Mantralaya if your work is not in legal frame, so I clearly say ‘No’ to them. It’s always better to be blunt than showing false dreams.

Recently, there was news in media regarding a youth who was cheated by some educationist for offering him job and took Rs 6 Lac from him. He was neither getting job nor his money back. When he told this to Dada, Dada got angry and he fired the concerned educationist and that youth got his money back! Dada didn’t know that youth, still he helped him immediately; shows Dada’s anger against injustice is society at the same time his willingness to help such a grass root people. Recently he helped 25 families for medical aid worth rupees more than 53 Lacs as told by his personal assistant Sunil Musale.

Since 2007 corporation elections and subsequent Zilla Parishad elections, he has had umbrella control over Pune, the cultural capital of Maharashtra, and its surrounding rural area. He is credited for efforts taken to resolve traffic congestion in Pune and the Industrial area of Pimpri-Chinchwad through vast constructions of flyovers, sub-ways and widened roads which at times attracted criticism. He is credited for making Pimpri-Chinchwad a good model of development in India. In 2011-12 Pimpri-Chinchwad Corporation (PCMC) received the first national award in urban development.


His keen pursuit to pull out the state from power crisis has resulted in marginal reduction in load shedding. In 2011, he resolved to totally eliminate load shedding (power outage) in Maharashtra by Dec 2012.

Dada had shown his dynamic leadership again when Mantralaya was facing Fire. Dada took charge and activated the whole administration with his guidance. Only sad part is that he has lost his two friends, activists of Baramati in that fire. He was shocked to hear that and still couldn’t forget the incidence and past memories of them. Still he feels guilty, acknowledges his love and affection towards his friends and activists.

Dada has successfully established himself. He takes many important decisions without any fear of reaction. He ordered to crack down on hoardings and flexes. He has instructed officials not to spare anyone while taking action against it as they are making city ugly. He made a declaration that the state would give up its revenue of over 100 crore earned by the sale of gutka. Dada is working day & night for many issues like power, water, metro railways, and traffic etc issues.

Many things, many incidences to write about Dada, but it is an endless story as he is doing remarkable work to make Maharashtra Sujalam-Sufalam adding every day. Dada obviously has such political will power. He wishes to achieve the highest political position in Maharashtra as it is wish of the common public of the state, and by the amount and quality of work that he is doing, he will soon achieve it. Hence his responsibility is magnified multifold and he certainly has necessary ability and experience to handle this responsibility. No astrologer is required to predict it as it will come true in near future.

Dada was born on July 22, 1959 and today is Dada’s 53rd birthday and we wish him all the best as we know he is the best.


Dada… Happy Birthday !!