Madhu Dandavate

Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924 – 12 November 2005) was an Indian politician.

Political career

During 1970-71 he was member of Maharashtra Legislative Council. From 1971 to 1990 he was an M.P., elected to the Lok Sabha for 5 times consecutively from Rajapur in Konkan, Maharashtra.^[1] He was one of the prominent opposition leaders when Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were the Prime Ministers.

He was arrested during the emergency for 18 months spending time in Banglore jail and later Yerwada jail at Pune.^{[2] [3][4]}

He was the Minister for Railways in the Morarji Desai Ministry. He initiated improvements in second-class railway travel for passengers by replacing the wooden berths with berths consisting of two inches foam. He was also the Finance minister in the cabinet of V. P. Singh. He actively campaigned for the Konkan Railway and is considered one of its founders. He was also the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission in 1990 and again from 1996 to 1998. He was associated with the Janata Dal (Secular), a party led by H. D. Deve Gowda. He was known for his probity in public life.

He was also the president of 'All India Life Insurance Employees Association' (AILIEA), a non-political association of LIC employees, for 24 years till his death.

Personal life

Dandavate was married to Pramila Dandavate, who was also prominently involved in the Socialist movement in India. She was the member of 7th Lok Sabha after winning the 1980s general election from Mumbai North Central constituency.^[5] She died on 31 December 2001 after a heart attack.^[6]

Madhu Dandavate died on 12 November 2005 in Mumbai after prolonged illness at the age of 81.^[7] As per his wish, his body was donated to J. J. Hospital in Mumbai. Former Prime Minister of India, V. P. Singh observed; "Even in death he served the country and the mankind by donating his body, and he has left only friends and no enemy.".^[8]

Bibliography

Dandavate has authored few 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, ISBN 8185402191
• Echoes in Parliament: Madhu Dandavate's speeches in Parliament, 1971-1990, Allied Publishers, 1995, ISBN 8170234204
• Quest of Conscience, Shipra Publications, 1998, ISBN 8175410043
• Yusuf Meherally: Quest For New Horizons, National Book Trust, India, 1998 ISBN 8123705530
• 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, ISBN 9788177643411
• Dialogue with Life, Allied Publishers, 2005 ISBN 9788177648560
• Social Roots of Gender Injustice, Theosophical Publishing House, 2005 (Lecture delivered at the Theosophical Society, Chennai on 27th December 2001)

References

• Page 9 of The Hindu Bangalore edition, dated 12 November 2005.
• Page 9 of Eenadu Karnataka edition, dated 12 November 2005.
• R. C. Rajamani: `A politician with wit and integrity', The Hindu, 16 Nov. 2005.
• Ramachandra Guha: `Two inches of foam', The Hindu, 20 Nov. 2005.

Further reading

• Madhu Dandavate: `The battle for justice', The Hindu, 6 Jan. 2002.
• Madhu Dandavate: `Vote-on-account: use and misuse', The Hindu, 4 Feb. 2004.
• Madhu Dandavate: `Gandhis dialogue with the nation', The Hindu, 6 Apr. 2005.

Railway Minister of India John Mathai N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar Lal Bahadur Shastri Jagjivan Ram Sardar Swaran Singh Kengal Hanumanthaiah C. M. Poonacha Panampilly Govinda Menon Gulzari Lal Nanda T. A. Pai Lalit Narayan Mishra Kamalpati Tripathi Madhu Dandavate Kedar Pandey A. B. A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury Madhav Rao Scindia Janeshwar Mishra C. K. Jaffer Sheriff Suresh Kalmadi Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ram Vilas Paswan Nitish Kumar Mamata Banerjee Nitish Kumar Laloo Prasad Yadav Mamata Banerjee Mukul Roy Manmohan Singh Dinesh Trivedi Mukul Roy C. P. Joshi Pawan Kumar Bansal Mallikarjun Kharge D. V. Sadananda Gowda Suresh Prabhu

Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Gulzari Lal Nanda V.T. Krishnamachari C.M. Trivedi Ashok Mehta D.R. Gadgil C. Subramaniam Durga Prasad Dhar P.N. Haksar D.T. Lakdawala N.D. Tiwari S.B. Chavan Prakash Chandra Sethi P.V. Narasimha Rao Manmohan Singh P. Shiv Shankar Madhav Singh Solanki Ramakrishna Hegde Madhu Dandavate Mohan Dharia Pranab Mukherjee Madhu Dandavate Jaswant Singh K.C. Pant Montek Singh Ahluwalia (2004 -)