Narayan Dyandeo Patil, who passed away on January 17, was a towering figure of the Left movement, and the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP). He was 93. He confronted the powerful and comforted the poor till his last breath.
His wife Saroj is the sister of Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, however, the two leaders represent two contrasting approaches to politics.
Patil imbibed the best values of Kolhapur, the former seat of Maratha ruler Shahu Maharaj, who had introduced caste-based reservation early in the 20th century. Kolhapur and surrounding areas had a rich tradition of rebellion, and social and educational reform.
The PWP grew out of a non-Brahmin, social reform movement, Satyashodhak Samaj, founded by Jyotiba Phule in Pune. The party was formed in 1948 by prominent Congressman, Keshavrao Jedhe, who felt the Congress was not giving its due to farmers. His exit, along with other Congressmen, helped the rise of Y.B. Chavan in the Congress. Later, as he became more secure, he, in turn, engineered defections from the PWP. This changed the ideological course of Maharashtra politics. Even then, the PWP remained strong with a good presence in the Lok Sabha and the state legislature.
As a journalist, I have seen Patil’s work for decades, since 1978 when he was the minister for cooperation in the coalition government led by Pawar. Patil then became the architect of the cotton monopoly procurement scheme. Like some other dedicated PWP leaders, he never set up any cooperative enterprise.
Naganath (Anna) Nayakwadi ran a successful sugar factory while Ganpatrao Deshmukh – who won 11 elections as an MLA and passed away last year at the age of 94 – ran a spinning mill in Solapur district, which was known for its textile workers’ struggles.
Pawar also comes from a family background rooted in the PWP. His mother Sharadabai was an active PWP member of what was then a local self-government body, known as the district local board in the 1930s.
The PWP had embraced Marxism as an ideology in 1950 following a thesis written by Shankarrao More, known as Dabhadi Prabandh.
One reason why Pawar is so different from other Maratha leaders in Maharashtra is that unlike most of them, he grew up in a very urban atmosphere in Pune, often among several liberal Brahmins, and early in life, he was soon exposed to capitalists and the American establishment.
Patil strongly opposed Pawar’s projects, including the Enron-Dabhol power project, but this never came in the way of their personal relations. He played a major role in both houses of the state legislature and was also a street fighter, leading numerous struggles and morchas. In one of the marches he led in Islampur, his own nephew was killed in police firing but the struggle was not given up. Without a microphone, he could reach thousands at rallies and demonstrations.
The younger generation has little idea of PWP’s contribution. The party had dedicated leaders like D.B. Patil, who was for some time an MP and leader of the opposition in the legislative assembly, and so there is demand that the international airport coming up in Navi Mumbai be named after him.
PWP’s Datta Patil, an MLA, too was a strong leader and an expert lawyer. Pawar had once joked in the legislative assembly about him, saying that a person would commit murder, straight away go to Datta, and secure acquittal.
It is unfortunate that land has become such a commodity in Raigad district, where highly respected Gandhian leaders like Vinoba Bhave grew up. Bhave had launched the bhoodan satyagraha with his padayatra (walk) throughout the country, seeking land to be donated for distribution among the poor. It is sad that our rulers have turned land into commodity, further enriching the rich.
Kolhapur had lost in 2015 another stalwart, Govind Pansare of the CPI. Five bullets were fired from two revolvers at the Communist leader. Patil is gone after nearly 70 years of popular struggles. But men like them will continue to inspire people.
Vidyadhar Date is a senior journalist, a cultural critic and the author of a book on the importance of public transport.