Yashwantrao Chavan

Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (Marathi pronunciation: [jəʃʋənt̪ɾaːʋ t͡səʋʱaːɳ]; 12 March 1913 – 25 November 1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician.

He served as the last Chief Minister of Bombay State and the first of Maharashtra after latter was created by the division of Bombay state.

Yashwantrao Chavan was born in a Kunbi-Maratha family on 12 March 1913 in the village of Devrashtre in Satara District (now in Sangli District) of Maharashtra, India.

He had three siblings.

Chavan lost his father in his early childhood and was brought up by his uncle and mother.

His mother taught him about self-dependency and patriotism.

From his childhood he was fascinated by the freedom struggle of India.

Chavan was an active participant in the struggle for independence of India.

As a schoolboy in Karad in 1930, he was fined for his participation in the Non-cooperation Movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1932, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hoisting the Indian flag in Satara.

During this period, he came in contact with Swami Ramanand Bharti, Dhulappa Bhaurao Navale, Gaurihar (Appasaheb) Sihasane, V. S. Page and Govind Kruparam Wani.

Their friendship lasted forever.

After completing his high school education from Tilak High school Karad in 1934, he joined the Rajaram College, Kolhapur.

In 1938, after obtaining his B.A. degree in history and political science (awarded by Bombay University) he joined Law College of Pune.

In 1940, he became President of Satara District Congress.

After obtaining his law degree (LLB awarded by Bombay University) in 1941, he started practice as a criminal lawyer at Karad.

In 1942, he married Venutai at Phaltan in Satara district, in a match arranged by their families.

During his college years, Chavan was involved in many social activities and was closely associated with the Congress party and its leaders, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel and Keshavrao Jedhe.

Chavan was one of the delegates at the Bombay session of the A.I.C.C. in 1942 that gave the call for Quit India.

He went "underground" before being arrested for his participation in the movement.

He spent around two years in jail, and was released only in 1944.

In 1946, Yashwantrao was first elected as Member of Legislative Assembly of the Bombay State from the South Satara constituency.

In the same year he was appointed as parliamentary secretary to the Home Minister of Bombay State.

In the next government of Morarji Desai he was appointed as Minister of Civil Supplies, Social Welfare and Forests.

The 1950s witnessed the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Movement) leading struggle for United Maharashtra with Bombay (now Mumbai) as its capital.

Chavan never joined the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Movement) and in fact called Prime minister Nehru, who opposed formation of language based state reorganization, as "Greater than Maharashtra".

In 1953 he was a signatory to the Nagpur Pact that assured equitable development of all regions of what is now the state of Maharashtra.

In 1957 Assembly elections Yashwantrao Chavan was elected from the Karad constituency.

This time he was elected as Leader of Congress Legislative Party, and became Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay state.

The election saw the Congress party losing badly in the Marathi speaking areas to the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti.

However, he was able to persuade Nehru to agree to form Maharashtra and therefore he is regarded as the chief architect in the formation of Marathi speaking state of Maharashtra.

From 1957 to 1960 he also served on the All India Congress Working Committee.

Chavan's vision for Maharashtra for the development envisaged the equal development of both the industrial and agricultural sectors across all the regions of the state.

He sought to realize this vision through the co-operative movement.

Legislation regarding democratic decentralized bodies and the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act were passed during his tenure as Chief Minister.

On 1 May 1960, Yashwantrao Chavan became the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

His last significant ministerial post was as the Deputy Prime Minister of India in the short lived Charan Singh government in 1979.

He was a strong Congress leader, co-operative leader, social activist and writer.

He was popularly known as Leader of Common People.

He advocated social democracy in his speeches and articles and was instrumental in establishing co-operatives in Maharashtra for the betterment of the farmers.