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If white is the colour of renunciation, it
suited Nanaji Deshmukh perfectly. It was the favourite colour of this great
modern-day sanyasi who passed away in Chitrakoot on February 27 at age 94. Clad
in spotless white dhoti and kurta, and sporting a flowing white beard, he
looked every bit the yogi he was.
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Nanaji was one of the heroes of the
underground struggle against the Emergency. However, when the Emergency was lifted
in 1977 and the Janata Party won a landslide victory in the ensuing Lok Sabha
elections, he declined Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s offer to join his
cabinet. He lamented that power-oriented politics created divisions in society.
He therefore renounced it, went to Chitrakoot to implement his vision of rural
development, and never looked back. What he achieved there on a micro-scale in
two districts, one in UP and the other in MP, was impressive and earned kudos
from everybody who visited Chitrakoot — from JRD Tata to A P J Abdul Kalam. He
established India’s first rural university. The Krishi Vigyan Kendras that he
set up were among the best in the country.
"Nobody from our village has migrated to cities in the past six years," said a farmer. That is the best tribute anyone could pay to this remarkable social activist who was part RSS, part Gandhian and part socialist.
“NO nation devoid of faith in high moral principles can really rise high and attainment of these principles should coincide with, if not precede, material prosperity to make it really great.”
- Dr. Rajendra Prasad
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