Values of a bygone era

By Our Special Correspondent

HUBLI, AUG. 1. This is an unusual story of a minister and the scruples of a bygone area -- a rarity in contemporary political milieu. It happened with Late Leelavati Magadi, a Gandhian, who was a Minister of State for Small Scale Industries and Khadi in the Jatti Ministry (1958-62).

Sometime after assuming charge, Magadi felt the need to have a car of her own as she was feeling uncomfortable in using the government car for her personal work. But the problem was that she could not afford it.

Then came the government order which said that ministers desiring to have a car for their personal use could get one from government quota. She grabbed the opportunity. But she had only half of Rs.13,000 required for the purpose.

And she was not willing to ask her husband the balance. She managed to get a handloan from an acquaintance. When her tenure came to end, she was stuck with the car purchased and loan for the same remaining uncleared, though the acquaintance had not asked for the money.

She quietly sold the car and returned the loan much to the surprise of the acquaintance. ``There was no need for you to return the money. I had never given it as a loan,'' said the acquaintance. Magadi stood her ground insisting on repayment.

Another occasion arose when a Bombay-based (now Mumbai) industrialist evinced interest in industrial estates being formed in the districts by the government. As the proposal was meant for promoting local entrepreneurs she refused to oblige him despite the sufficient hints thrown that she could be adequately ``compensated'' for the gesture.

The industrialist sought the intercession of her father Sardar Veerana Gouda Patil, a veteran Gandhian, with a promise that any help received would be compensated handsomely with donation for the Mahila Vidyapeetha, Hubli, an educational institution being run by him. But still Magadi refused to consider the ``offer.''

Another piquant situation arose when the government decided to purchase khadi to meet its requirement. The question was who should be entrusted with the task. The obvious choice was her husband, Venkatesh Magadi, who headed a State-level federation of khadi institutions. Instead of giving the responsibility to the federation with which her husband was connected, Magadi opted for decentralisation of the purchases among the different district khadi units.

She risked losing the seat held by her in 1967 from Shirahatti constituency, rather than meet the demand for money made by some villages. She lost the election but did not regret it.

All these nuggets are contained in a book on her which was released at a function to unveil her statue at the Karnataka Khadi Gramodyoya Samyukta Sangha here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Surendra Dani, former Editor of Samyukta Karnataka and author of the book, said that these incidents had been recorded so that they could inspire posterity to recapture the values in public life which were fast vanishing.

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