MY ASSOCIATION WITH P. V.

I. V. Chalapati Rao

I followed P. V.s rising career from the beginnings in Karimnagar to his glorious record as India’s first Prime Minister outside the Nehru family successfully completing the full period of five years in office. I am proud to say that I was honoured by him once in Hyderabad during his first visit as Prime Minister and a second time in Delhi when he released the two parts of my translation of Tanguturi Prakasham’s Autobiography into English and he presented his book “INSIDER” with the words written on it: “To my respected friend Sri I. V. Chalapati Rao”. As I was closely associated with him in the early days, I watched his career with an admiration bordering on pride. However as many writers have written about his achievements as Prime Minister, I would like to confine myself to his close association with Karimnagar.

The great Godavary which later becomes one of the broadest rivers in the world, is just a channel at Nasik, the place of its genesis. The mighty oak tree with its innumerable branches was a tiny acorn in its origin. Likewise, the future Prime Minister of India had started as an MLA in Karimnagar District.

In 1961 I was Principal of Sri Raja Rajeswari Government College of Karimnagar, the district headquarters. Originally, it was started as a private college. It was started with the initiative of Late Sri Burugula Rama Krishna Rao, Chief Minister. Sri J. Tukka Rao and Sri P. V. Narasimha Rao were the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Governing Body. The committee appointed well-known scholars as Principals and Lecturers. To make it financially stable, later on the college was handed over to Government at the instance of Sri P.V. and other local leaders.

Kavi Samrat Viswanadha Sathyanarayana was the last Principal of the private management from whom I took over as the first Principal when it became a Government College. As a man of letters P.V. frequently interacted with him and later translated his ‘Veyi Padagalu’ into Hindi as ‘Sahasra Phani’. For this book P.V. received a prestigious award from the Sahitya Academy of Delhi. Later on he felt extremely happy when Gyana Peeth Award was received by Viswanadha. Speaking to the press persons Viswanadha humorously said: “I received the award because of Dr. Gopala Reddy and Sri P. V. Narasimha Rao”.

When the Annual Day of the college had to be celebrated, in consultation with my colleague Sri V. Kondal Rao, I invited Sri P. V. Narasimha Rao as Chief Guest and Andhra Pitamaha Late Sri Madapati Hanmantha Rao, Chairman of the Legislative Council, as President of the meeting. Sri P.V. was not only M.L.A. but also a member of the Syndicate of the Osmania University. It was a memorable day. P. V. delivered a scholarly and stimulating address.

When he became Minister of Information and Publicity, it was a critical time when the Chinese invaded India. P.V. toured all the districts mobilizing public opinion, arousing the patriotism of the people and collecting money for the Defence Fund. He got me appointed by Government as Secretary of the People’s Defence Committee for Karimnagar District. I accompanied him on his tour of the district where ever he went. He also asked me to address the meetings. I had the opportunity of listening to his eloquence in Telugu, Urdu and English. To my surprise, I found that he could stir the patriotic feelings of the educated as well as the illiterate. It was a matter of credit to him that Andhra Pradesh, especially Karimnagar district, contributed a substantial amount to the Defence Fund.

Then P.V. became Health Minister. Again he took steps to strengthen the Government Hospital of Karimnagar and Primary Health Centres in rural areas. He paid top priority attention to Family Planning, because he used to say that unchecked population explosion was the chief contributory cause to India’s economic backwardness. Contrary to general opinion, he had a fine sense of humour. Once when the Department of Health and Medical Services held a public meeting in Karimnagar he was the chief guest and I presided. He made a humorous remark by saying. “Today you selected the right people for this meeting. Chalapati Rao is an example for family planning as he has only one son and I am a deterrent case as the father of eight children!”

At P.V.’s instance an Eye Camp was conducted in the newly completed building of S.R.R. Government College in which eight hundred eye operations were performed by Dr. P. Siva Reddy, Superintendent of Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital and his team of Ophthalmic surgeons. Spectacles were freely supplied to the operated patients. On the last day, a public meeting was held at which P.V. was the chief guest and I was the guest of honour. In fact P.V. was instrumental in getting the permanent buildings sanctioned by the Government. Even today the buildings of S.R.R. Government College are considered to be the best planned buildings in a spacious site not far from the town. He was responsible for Jagtial College being taken over by Government. It developed fast with Sri V. Kondal Rao as Principal. As Sri P.V. was busy in Delhi, I had the opportunity of opening it, Late Sri J. Chokka Rao presiding. As Law Minister P.V. sanctioned a new building to the District Court of Karimnagar and got it inaugurated by the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh. He started the innovation of open Jails.

Soon P.V. became Education Minister of Andhra Pradesh. I was posted as Dy. Director of Public Instruction and later as Dy. Director of Higher Education when the Department was bifurcated. As the one and only Dy. Director, I had the opportunity of assisting Sri B. Pratap Reddy, Director and later Late Sri M. V. Rajagopal, special Secretary. P.V. introduced reforms of far reaching importance in Andhra Pradesh and they were used as models for the reforms introduced by him at national level when he was Union Minister for H.R.D. at the Centre. The present day U.G.C. Academic Staff Colleges, Navodaya Schools and Autonomous Colleges are some of his innovative measures.

As Editor of ‘Triveni’, the 75 years old Literary and Cultural quarterly, I am grateful to him for his moral support. He said “What little patriotism and political consciousness I have today were derived after reading the issues of Triveni of those days. I am glad you are editing it”.

Recently there were only two public meetings when I was associated with him and heard him speak. The first was when he released one of my latest books ‘Culture Capsules – Art of Living’ in the Nizam College. The other one was when he released Smt. Vasa Prabhavathy’s book in Raj Bhavan. He was Chief guest and I was the guest of honour.

I never forget the compliment paid to me when he released my book ‘Art of Living’. He said “I am very happy on this auspicious day (Gandhi Jayanthi) to be able to meet all of you and also release Prof. Chalapati Rao’s book. This book is not just a book. It is a treasure. We have had many kinds of treasures but this is a special treasure... I am really impressed by the manner in which he has brought some extraordinary things from thought to thought throughout, and he excelled”.

“Prof. Chalapati Rao has a unique and many splendoured personality with whom I had a long association. Chalapati Raoji is an educationist, a fine teacher and an educational administrator, more than any of these things, he is a thinking person”. I can only pray to God to deserve his opinion.

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