The Hindu : Karnataka News : His simplicity endeared him to the masses

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

His simplicity endeared him to the masses

By Rishikesh Bahadur Desai

BIDAR, JULY 18. A seven-time MP from Bidar (Reserved), 96-year-old Ramachandra Veerappa, had endeared himself to the masses by his simplicity and approachability, now rare among politicians. "Election-time campaigning is for those who have run away after getting elected and never met their voters for five years. I do not need to campaign as I am always with the people," he had said.

True to his words, Mr. Veerappa was always available at his home in Humnabad to the people of Bidar and the two taluks of Aland and Kamalapur in Gulbarga whom he represented. The nonagenarian MP who was awarded by the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Manohar Joshi, for the highest attendance in Parliament, flew down to Humnabad in the weekends to meet his subjects, even when Parliament was in session.

Mr. Veerappa was first elected to the Hyderabad State Legislative Council in 1952. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly from the double-member constituency of Aland (1957) and Hulsoor (1983) and won the Parliament seat from Bidar seven times (1962, 1967, 1991, 1996, 1998,1999, 2004). He won the Lok Sabha elections without a break from 1991.

He changed parties four times and he had seen several Prime Ministers from Indira Gandhi to Manmohan Singh. He appreciated the style of functioning of the Late Mrs. Gandhi and his long-time friend, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, though he pointed out that they were poles apart. A long-time Congressman, he joined the BJP in 1991 after the being denied the party ticket. He was jailed with his brother, Lakshman Veerappa, for joining the freedom struggle against the Nizam of Hyderabad.

One among the innumerable anecdotes about Mr. Veerappa goes like this: Mr. Veerappa presented a Khadi garland with flowers woven in cotton fabrics to the then Defence Minister, Y.B. Chauhan, who visited Bidar in 1958. Mr. Chauhan jocularly remarked that those flowers had no smell.

Mr. Veerappa recounted an Akbar-Birbal tale in his speech in which the witty minister proves to the king that flowers of the cotton plant were superior to rose because of their utility. Can you wear clothes made of rose petals, Mr. Veerappa asked Mr. Chauhan with his characteristic smile?

Mr. Veerappa had a great sense of humour. Once he introduced the Railway Minister, Bangaru Lakshman, to the crowd as: "Nam hai Bangaru, aur dil hai sone ka'' (The name is Bangaru and a heart of gold). Mr. Lakshman kept laughing when Mr. Veerappa continued to praise him in his own earthly style: "Rang pakka aur mal guarantee'' (I can guarantee about the quality of the goods as it has a colour that won't go away with washing). Mr. Lakshman touched Mr. Veerappa's feet before starting his speech. He said: "Everybody speaks about my black complexion. But I had never heard anyone praise me for it.''

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