The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : A symbol of guru-sishya relationship

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Friday, Dec 24, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

A symbol of guru-sishya relationship

By K. Venkateshwarlu

HYDERABAD, DEC. 23. If there is one organisation that feels orphaned by the passing away of the former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao, it is the Swami Ramananda Tirtha Institute of Socio- Economic Research and National Integration at Begumpet in Hyderabad.

Narasimha Rao along with his associate Govind Bhai Shroff, set up the institute in 1974, to perpetuate the memory of Swami Ramananda Tirtha whom he revered as his "political guru".

The institute stands as a symbol of a special guru- sishya relationship enjoyed by the Swamji and Narasimha Rao. PV, as he was fondly called, nurtured the institute all through, making it a point to visit and participate in its activities whenever he is in Hyderabad. His last visit was about two months ago.

On Thursday, the institute was overwhelmed with grief. His death was received with shock by the staff. A portrait of Narasimha Rao was kept in the verandah to enable people to pay homage. Led by K. V. Keshavulu, PV's associate for five decades and convenor of the Swami Ramanand Tirtha Memorial Committee, the office staff, hurriedly organised a condolence meeting.

"PV was attracted to Swamiji's philosophy and uprightness. He would repeat Swamiji's famous line, I am prepared to break but not bend before anyone, any number of times. That line became his life's credo from the days he was in a camp in Chandrapur fighting against the Nizam's Rule", Mr. Keshavulu recalled.

Trio's distinction

Along with Shankar Rao Chavan of Maharashtra and Veerendra Patil of Karnataka, PV formed a trio of Swamiji's disciples who rose to occupy important public posts, he added.

No wonder, when PV was felicitated by his freedom fighter colleagues of erstwhile Hyderabad State on October 3, this year, they praised Swamiji "for discovering you (PV) as a potential leader of great promise" and how it was "his wisdom that gave India a national leader of extraordinary intellectual talent". He was felicitated on a day that marked completion of "sahasra chandra darsanam", (one thousand lunar months) which coincided with the centenary of the Swamiji.

They spoke of how PV's "full throated slogans of Vande Mataram along with other tyagis, raised in the precincts of Osmania University (over five decades ago) still resonates in our ears".

This agitation resulted in PV leaving studies in Hyderabad and shifting to Nagpur. His role at that time included ideological and logistic support to his comrades-in- arms.

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