Karnataka   

J.H. Patel’s statue unveiled

DAVANGERE: Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekharan has said that the former Chief Minister J.H. Patel was strongly committed to providing education to the poor and children from rural areas, for which he had recruited over one lakh teachers while in office. The recruitment of one lakh teachers still remained a record.

Unveiling the bronze statue of Patel here on Wednesday, Mr. Rajasekharan said the former Chief Minister had been a seasoned and mature politician as well as a good orator. He was the first person to speak in Kannada in the Lok Sabha and even held the Assembly spellbound when he spoke. Being a staunch follower of Ram Manohar Lohia, he had practiced socialism all throughout his life, and championed the cause of the poor, he said and added that Patel should have been conferred with a honorary doctorate by a university.

Values were fading away fast in the current political scenario, he said and added that it was rare to find leaders such as Patel today.

Davangere MP Siddeshwar said that Patel had taken a bold decision to form seven new districts, including Davangere, and added that they would have remained taluks if it were not for his initiative.

The former MLA Mahima Patel and son of J.H. Patel said that his father had been against installing statues. He said he had initially opposed installation of the statue, but when a large number of people were in favour of it, he had to accept it.

The former Defence Minister George Fernandes, however, could not address the gathering owing to ill-health, but was present during the statue’s installation.

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