(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.
