Renaissance State-The Unwritten Story of The Making of Maharashtra

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Maharashtra. Among The Country's Largest, Wealthiest, Most Significant Constituents. A Great State In Name And In Deed That Has Been The Cradle Of Individuals And Events That Have Shaped India.

Girish Kuber, a seasoned journalist and one of Maharashtra's foremost opinion makers, tells the region's story in Renaissance State. Taking in its vast sweep the politics, society and history of the land, from the time of the Satavahanas down to the present day, the book chronicles a number of lesser-known tales: the empire that brought the mighty Mughals to their knees, the woman who took the issue of consent in marital sex right up to Queen Victoria, the social reformers who were far ahead of their time, the men and women who were pioneers in different walks of life, the evolution of movements of the right and left as well as for Dalit identity, the man who mentored Gandhi and also the one who killed him, besides recounting the region's long tradition of standing up to the power centres of the north.

This is the account of the making of Maharashtra and the Marathi Manoos that its proud people deserved but which had so far remained unwritten.

GIRISH KUBER is the Editor of Loksatta and writes frequently in the Indian Express. He is the author of The Tatas: How a Family Built a Business and a Nation, which won the inaugural Gaja Capital Business Book Prize in 2019. He has also written six books in Marathi. He lives in Mumbai.

The year was 1991. The V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar governments at the Centre had fallen in quick succession. India was grappling with grave political uncertainty. One more general election was on the horizon and, as a political reporter, I was trying to gauge the mood. Travelling from Goa – where I was posted at the time – I landed in Kankavli, a small, sleepy town in the Konkan region of Maharashtra. Madhu Dandavate, the finance minister in the Singh cabinet, was contesting the election from there. It was the constituency that had sent him to Parliament five times in a row.

Nana – as Dandavate was fondly called – was a socialist. I caught up with him late one evening at fellow activist Shashi Taishetye's house. Nana was dressed in a white short-sleeved kurta and oldfashioned striped cotton pyjamas. Since I knew him personally, the conversation was candid and freewheeling. Soon it veered towards the overall decay of values in politics – the topic old-school socialists always like to lament about. Nana unravelled many details about V.P. Singh's style of functioning. And then came the real shocker.

'I was asked to take the lead in dislodging Singh,' Nana said in his usual nonchalant tone.

What?' I said, caught by surprise, as the implication of what he had said dawned on me.

A large number of MPs from our party approached me after it became clear that Singh was turning into a burden,' he added. "They offered to push for his removal and propose my name as they believed I was the most acceptable, non-controversial leader they had. Some of them even assured me support from the Congress party.

I was eager to know what had happened next. Knowing that Chandra Shekhar was eventually agreed upon for the post, I wanted to understand why and how Dandavate had fallen out of the race.

'Nothing,' he said. “I simply refused. That's doublecrossing! How could I betray my leader?'

The conversation that followed was a long lecture in political values and the importance of loyalty. I tried to interrupt only once, very meekly, when I asked, 'But, Nana, how could you turn down an opportunity to be the Prime Minister of India? Haven't you done a great injustice to Maharashtra?'.

No!' he said. “Maharashtra should be proud of the fact that I didn't deceive my leader.'

I realized that he did not see the episode as a wasted opportunity. This was because he was a true-blue 'Marathi Manoos'. In politics, history is replete with examples that show how the Marathi Manoos has been more comfortable serving as an able deputy to another leader than staking claim to ultimate power himself.

**Contents and Sample Pages**