Shivraj Patil was widely appreciated for his disciplined lifestyle in politics
Congress party, which ruled India for major part of her post-Independence period, had many towering leaders who could be broadly classified into those who worked under Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri, and those who found prominent place in the cabinets of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Some of these leaders from the latter group even went on to work in the Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh governments. In fact, there were sets of father and son like Govind Ballabh Pant and KC Pant, and Narhar Vishnu Gadgil and VN Gadgil; the father being part of the first group, while the son of the second. Shivraj Patil, who passed away on December 12, is one such tall Congress leader who had an illustrious political career.
Coming from Panchamsali Lingayat community Patil had completed 90 years, earlier this October. He was born in the Chakur village of the Latur district in Marathwada region. A student of science, Patil attended Osmania University in Hyderabad and following graduation, studied law at the Bombay University. His baptism in politics happened when he became president of the Latur municipal council during 1967-67. Soon Keshavrao Sonawane and Manikrao Sonawane helped him get his first break as an MLA by contesting in the Latur constituency. During his two terms as the Maharashtra legislator, from 1972 to 1978 and from 1978 to 1980, he served as the chairman of public undertakings committee, deputy minister (law and judiciary, irrigation, protocol), deputy speaker and speaker of the Maharashtra assembly.
Patil was elected to the Lok Sabha from Latur constituency in 1980. He subsequently went on to win seven successive Lok Sabha elections starting from the one held in 1980 to the 1999 Lok Sabha polls. During this period, he worked across multiple important ministries including defence. Patil also served as the Lok Sabha speaker. As the Lok Sabha speaker, he accelerated several initiatives such as modernisation of the lower House including its computerisation, live telecast of parliamentary proceedings and the establishment of the new library building. It was during his tenure that the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award was instituted. He had a deep knowledge of the Indian Constitution and his contributions to strengthening democracy will always be remembered.
At the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Patil lost to the BJP candidate Rupatai Patil Nilangekar. Nevertheless, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha the same year and landed the second most important position in the Union cabinet, that of the home minister. Unfortunately his tenure as home minister was marred by one debacle after another including the 2006 Malegaon bombings at a Muslim graveyard, due to which he faced increasing calls for his resignation. Patil had to finally resign from the position, four days after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, taking moral responsibility for the security lapse. He was reported to have been changing clothes for public appearances while the country was under the particular terror attack. He is also criticised for having omitted this episode from his autobiography titled, ‘Odyssey of My Life’. After the 26/11 attacks, Patil was made the Punjab governor and Chandigarh administrator from 2010 to 2015. By then he was already past the peak of his career.
Having served for more than four decades in public life, Shivraj Patil was widely appreciated for his disciplined lifestyle. He consistently upheld ethics in politics while holding various public as well as constitutional positions. Patil will always be remembered for his dignified, cultured and scholarly personality, which is rare to find in present-day politics.
