The unique charm about Chavan, to my mind, is that he eludes the obsessions—magnificent or otherwise—that plague so many of our personages at his level. He has the remarkable gift of maintaining his loyalty to the essential creeds and principles of the organisation that claims him and at the same time of ridding his mind free of the inhibitions and fallacies and the creeds that “refuse and restrain". He realises that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the State but from the hand of God. He appreciates the ineluctable fact that his responsibility extends over and above the domain of the political organisation to the authentic welfare of the vast masses who have put the organisation in power not for strengthening itself but for enabling it to bring to them justice, prosperity, peace and contentment —in short, the fruits of their labour.
Chavan is a friend of—and believer in—the free press. He is not afraid of speaking out his mind on matters of significance, and he is forthright and to the point. Having the journalistic blood in his veins, he likes the company of the press and can relax with them, but they dare not take liberties with him.
He can more than hold his own in his repartees and his answers to their queries can be cute and devastating. The press likes him and respects him.
Not Parochial in Outlook
He has succeeded—as nobody else would have done—in winning over the bulk of the population of Vidarbha to the Maharashtra State. He goes to the so-called opponents not only with courage but with sympathy which is stronger than logic, statistics or dry administrative measures.
Chavan does not need any higher testimonial to his loyalty to the nation and to the Congress than the complete confidence of Nehru that he enjoys. There is nothing wrong in his aspiration to secure the first place among the States of India for Maharashtra—so long as he is not parochial in outlook. And no sane man can accuse him of parochialism. He has succeeded in putting at ease all non-Marathi-speaking people living in this State.
The outstanding fact about Chavan is that in doing well by Maharashtra, he is fired by the ambition to do well by India. He is one of the few, very very few Indians in the multi-lingual and almost multi-national India of ours, a fact which leaves one in no doubt whatsoever that his name and fame will spread in course of time beyond the boundaries of Maharashtra seeking and finding newer and ever newer frontiers within and outside India.
In that faith, I wish Mr. Chavan very many happy returns.
“Obviously equality of opportunity must be an important element in any conception of social justice and we must strive to create conditions in Maharashtra in which nobody need fail to get scope for his talents merely for lack of money.”
-SHRI Y. B. CHAVAN