There are Congressmen who think they have acquitted themselves when they say Congress stands for a Socialist Pattern of Society. Chavan is not content with cliches. Like Gandhi, he believes that the test of the faith is "action". He has found himself in a leading, active and res­ponsible position. He wants to deliver the goods.

Ever since he became Chief Minister, Chavan has been working to put as much of his faith into action as possible. During the days of the old Bombay State, his burden was very heavy. He did not allow himself to be weighted down. He preserved his vitality and laid his plans. As soon as the linguistic Maharashtra State was brought into existence, he could launch his plans into action. His period of spooring was finished : and he advanced with firmness and assurance.

The Maker of a Progressive State Within months of his assumption of office, he brought a new wind to blow in Maharashtra State. Chavan has embarked on many new and progressive schemes and has displayed great imagination, courage and generosity. More perhaps than his opposite number in any other State, he has brought to bear on the doings of his Government the im­pact of his vigorous personality. He has insisted on a fair deal to labour, on industrialisation of the rural areas, on the eschewing of regionalism and casteism and all kinds of petty-isms, on encourage­ment to artists, writers and others of their ilk, and on all such things big and small as would serve to make Maharashtra a great, progressive State and a powerful unit of the Nation that would be a tower of strength to the Union.

By his humanity he has won over the poorer and humbler sections of the community, and by his universality the members of the opposition both in the legislature and outside. His simplicity and naturalness have endeared him to the masses, and his rejection of anything that approximates to snobbishness has made him respected and fear­ed by the classes. Both are aware that Chavan stands no nonsense, from whichever quarter it may emanate, and both know that their cases must rest on merit and justice and not on misleading and hypocritical arguments designed to lead him up the garden path. Nobody can spot the hidden dangers and perils in the deceitful garden more quickly than Chavan; and nobody can hope to decoy him to a corner and take him by surprise. For his mind is alert, his eyes are farseeing, his shoulders are broad; he is what I would like to call a man-sized man.