In a mixture of nostalgia about his birthplace and pride in his later political development, Yashwantrao Chavan embarks on his autobiography reticently at first but gives you the minutiae of his life as he lived it. From the poetic introduction to the beauty of the river Krishna, his idyllic childhood and affection for his mother and brothers, Chavan takes you through his early life and writes of how an abiding interest in the politics of the day and people led him on to explore higher ground.
He was the first chief minister of Maharashtra and later deputy Prime Minister, Union Home Minister and Defence Minister and clearly his own drive and gumption propelled his rise from a poor agricultural family to a political stalwart.
Insight
His autobiography Krishnakath translated for the first time into English to commemorate his birth centenary year will give an inspiring insight to those who have not read the Marathi original into the making of a sensitive and intellectual politician, very different from the crop we have today.
Chavan was a voracious reader and had a deep curiosity which took him to meet people of different political hues, including Savarkar, with whose ideology he did not agree. The first time he went to jail as a young student became a joyous opportunity to learn and read books of all kinds to enhance his intellectual abilities. “The year spent in this jail was like a time spent in the university of life,” he writes.
Freedom struggle
His book traces a very important aspect of the Indian freedom struggle, the rise of the rural leadership, in this case in Karad and Satara and how eventually it became a centre for resistance. Later on, this defiance led to the formation of a Patri or Prati Sarkar — a radical parallel government which dispensed justice in its own manner from 1942 to 1945, after Gandhiji gave the call for the British to quit India.
Chavan read everything that came his way and seemed to be partial to George Bernard Shaw, Shakespeare, H G Wells, Victor Hugo, Marx and M N Roy and modestly claims, “My reading was versatile.” His affinity for Marx and M N Roy's teachings is detailed here and also the realisation that as a believer in Socialism he knew that the mere departure of the British would not result in the uplift of the people. He understood the need for basic changes in the social and economic framework.
However, he resolves the “ideological triangle” by accepting the Congress philosophy eventually but confesses to a momentary desire to join the Communist Party which was quickly repressed. Earlier in school he had similar conflicting thoughts over Tilak and Jyotiba Phule. “Tilak talked of swaraj and Phule spoke of equality in the society and emancipation of the downtrodden through education. Both these streams of thought were equally significant and I came to a conclusion that both these men were truly great as far as I was concerned.”
Transition in life
Later in life, he is mesmerised by Gandhiji's “do-or-die” call and discovers the excitement and loneliness of an underground life for ten months. He also mentions his inner turmoil at times, caught between the desire to act and the need to wait things out. “I mention this intellectual journey and discussions because this was a period of a very big transition in my life. I was caught in between the feeling of intensely wanting something to happen and the reality of no such action materialising. I felt suffocated in this void.”
Centre of rebellion
He was instrumental in making Karad the centre of rebellion and often had to leave his family and his newly married wife Venutai during his clandestine activities. He has dedicated his book to Venutai who also suffered during his days in jail and his absence from home during the struggle for freedom.
He was arrested once again in 1943 and went to jail for a few months. His political activities finally were rewarded with his being elected from Satara as an MLA in 1946. He says he contested ten elections and won all of them. It is not surprising to understand why: he had a deep rapport with the people and an understanding of their needs, something which most politicians completely lack these days.
As he admits candidly: “I have been involved in the political process of elections for the past 40 years. But I must admit that the election of 1946 was the only one which was so straightforward, inexpensive, principled, and based on spontaneous support of the people.”
It is a pity that the two more volumes he planned to write on his later life did not materialise before his death in 1984.
KRISHNAKATH — An Autobiography of Yashwantrao Chavan: Gayatri Pagdi — Tr. in English; Rohan Prakashan, Dhavalgiri Apartments, 430 Shaniwar Peth, Pune-411030. Rs. 395.
