Madhu Dandavate

Early life and career

Madhu Dandavate was born in a Marathi Deshastha Brahmin family in Ahmednagar on 21 January 1924, the son of Ramachandra Dandavate. After completing his M.Sc. in Physics from Royal Institute of Science, Bombay, he headed the Physics department at Siddhartha College of Arts and Sciences, Bombay.

Political career

Dandavate entered politics as an independence activist, participating in the Quit India Movement in 1942. He was the leader of a Satyagraha campaign in Goa in 1955 against Portuguese imperialism.

He was a member of Praja Socialist Party, and since 1948 served as chairman of its Maharashtra unit. Later, he also served as the party's joint secretary. He was an active leader of the Land Liberation Movement, 1969.

During 1970–71, Dandavate was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. From 1971 to 1990, he was a Member of Parliament, elected to the Lok Sabha for five consecutive terms from Rajapur in Konkan, Maharashtra. He was one of the prominent opposition leaders during Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi's tenures as Prime Ministers.

Dandavate was arrested during the Emergency in 1975, spending time in Bangalore Central Jail.

After the end of the Emergency and the 1977 elections, Dandavate served as the Minister of Railways in the Morarji Desai ministry. He initiated a number of improvements in the country's rail infrastructure. These included the computerization of railway reservations, which reduced corruption among booking clerks and uncertainty among passengers; sanctioning the first phase of the Konkan Railway in 1978–79, with a line from Apta to Roha; and the repair or replacement of 5000 kilometres of worn-out tracks. Most notably, he introduced cushioned berths for passengers of second-class sleeper coaches, replacing the existing wooden berths, to provide for a more comfortable journey. While initially implemented in the major trunk lines, all trains had these padded berths in their second-class compartments by the end of the 1980s.

As a parliamentarian, one of his major interventions during the enactment of the Anti-Defection Law in 1985 was the incorporation of a safety clause to allow dissent.

Dandavate later served as the Finance Minister in the cabinet of V. P. Singh. His parliamentary career ended after his loss to Major Sudhir Sawant of the Congress in 1991, and he slowly receded from national politics.

He was also the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission in 1990, and again from 1996 to 1998.

Death

After a protracted period of suffering from cancer, Dandavate died at the Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai on 12 November 2005, at the age of 81. As per his wishes, his body was donated to the city's J. J. Hospital.

Personal life

Madhu Dandavate was married to Pramila Dandavate, who was also prominently involved in the socialist movement in India, in 1953. She was a member of the 7th Lok Sabha after being elected in the 1980 general election from the Mumbai North Central constituency. During their 18-month detention during the Emergency, with Madhu lodged in Bangalore Central Jail and Pramila in Yerawada Jail in Pune, the couple wrote each other 200 letters, discussing issues like music, books, philosophy and love.

Pramila died on 31 December 2001 after a heart attack. The couple had one son, Uday, who studied at the National Institute of Design, and owns a design research consulting company in San Francisco, US. In 2014, Uday Dandavate joined the Aam Aadmi Party.

Legacy

A prominent socialist politician and opposition leader, Dandavate was known for his incisive speeches laced with wit and humour, often raising issues of public importance during Zero Hour in Parliament. He was also hailed for his integrity and humility.

In India After Gandhi, historian Ramachandra Guha highlights Dandavate's pragmatism, stating that "his socialism eschewed rhetoric against the rich in favour of policies for the poor. As he [Dandavate] put it, 'what I want to do is not degrade the first class but elevate the second class'." Noting his role in the introduction of cushioned seats in trains, Guha writes that "those two inches of foam" have probably "brought more succour to more people than any other initiative by an Indian politician". Guha thus places him among the few ministers who "shall be remembered for having carried out programmes that radically reshaped the lives of their people".

Bibliography

Dandavate authored a number of books. His speeches and lectures have also been published.

• Future of Parliamentary Democracy in India, Harold Laski Institute of Political Science, 1974
• Marx and Gandhi, Popular Prakashan, 1977
• Jayaprakash Narayan, the Man and His Ideas, Popular Prakashan, Bombay 1981
• Evolution of Socialist Policies and Perspective, 1934-1984, Popular Prakashan, 1986
• As the Mind Unfolds: Issues and Personalities, Shipra Publications, 1993,
• Echoes in Parliament: Madhu Dandavate's speeches in Parliament, 1971-1990, Allied Publishers, 1995,
• Quest of Conscience, Shipra Publications, 1998,
• Yusuf Meherally: Quest For New Horizons, National Book Trust, India, 1998
• Parivartanāce Pāīka: Mahātmā Jotibā Phule Aani Nyāyamūrtī Rānaḍe, Sadhana Prakashan, 2001 (Comparative study in Marathi of social reformers Jyotirao Phule and Mahadev Govind Ranade)
• Jayaprakash Narayan: Struggle with Values: A Centenary Tribute, Allied Publishers, 2002,
• Dialogue with Life, Allied Publishers, 2005
• Social Roots of Gender Injustice, Theosophical Publishing House, 2005 (Lecture delivered at the Theosophical Society, Chennai on 27 December 2001)

References

References

1. "State wise Details Maharashtra". [[Lok Sabha]].
2. "General Elections, India, 1971 - Constituency Wise Detailed Results". Election Commission.
3. Deol, Taran. (21 January 2020). "Madhu Dandavate — two inches of foam that he gifted Indians and the letters he wrote". ThePrint.
4. Guha, Ramachandra. (20 November 2005). "TWO INCHES OF FOAM, The Hindu".
5. (13 November 2005). "Madhu Dandavate passes away at 81". The Times of India.
6. Guha, Ramachandra. (2008). "[[India After Gandhi]]". Picador.
7. "Madhu Dandavate the Finance Minister of India". India Infoline.
8. (12 November 2005). "Veteran Socialist Madhu Dandavate passes away". Zee News.
9. "Member's Profile -9th Lok Sabha".
10. Selections from Regional Press -2002 - Volume 21 - Page 36
11. Dialogue with Life by Madhu Dandavate- Page 109
12. [https://books.google.com/books?id=QaGzA2WA_B0C&dq=Madhu+Dandavate+arrested+emergency&pg=PA511] Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: A World Survey, Volume 3- 1987
13. Ashraf, Ajaz. (25 June 2019). "44th anniversary of Emergency: How love letters between Madhu and Pramila Dandavate in jail defied odds of authoritarian rule". Firstpost.
14. Editorial. (22 February 2018). "February 22, 1978, Forty Years Ago". The Indian Express.
15. "Members Bioprofile - Dandavate, Shrimati Pramila". [[Lok Sabha]].
16. (2 January 2005). "Pramila Dandavate dead". [[The Hindu]].
17. News Desk. (16 January 2014). "Former Railway Minister Madhu Dandavate's son Uday joins AAP". IndiaTV.