Vasantdada Patil

{{Short description|Indian politician}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2011}} {{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = File:Vasantdada Patil 2012 stamp of India (cropped).jpg | order = 7th | office = Governor of Rajasthan | term_start = 20 November 1985 | term_end = 15 October 1987 | predecessor = [[Om Prakash Mehra]] | successor = [[Sukhdev Prasad]] | office1 = 6th [[Chief Minister of Maharashtra]] | term_start1 = 2 February 1983 | term_end1 = 3 June 1985 | predecessor1 = [[Babasaheb Bhosale]] | successor1 = [[Shivajirao Nilangekar Patil]] | term_start2 = 17 May 1977 | term_end2 = 18 July 1978 | predecessor2 = [[Shankarrao Chavan]] | successor2 = [[Sharad Pawar]] | office4 = [[Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha]] | term_start4 = 1980 | term_end4 = 1983 | predecessor4 = Ganapati Gotkhinde | successor4 = [[Shalini Patil]] | constituency4 = [[Sangli Lok Sabha constituency|Sangli]] | office5 = | term_start5 = | term_end5 = | predecessor5 = | successor5 = | constituency5 = | office6 = Member of [[Maharashtra Legislative Assembly]] | term_start6 = 1978 | term_end6 = 1980 | predecessor6 = [[Pandurang Bapu Patil]] | successor6 = [[Shalini Patil]] | constituency6 = [[Sangli Assembly constituency|Sangli]] | term_start7 = 1952 | term_end7 = 1967 | predecessor7 = ''Constituency created'' | successor7 = A. B. Birnale | constituency7 = [[Sangli Assembly constituency|Sangli]] | birth_name = Vasantrao Banduji Patil | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1917|11|13}} | birth_place = [[Sangli]], [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1989|03|01|1917|11|13}} | death_place = [[Bombay]], [[Maharashtra]], [[India]] | party = [[Indian National Congress]] | spouse = Malatitai Patil<br />[[Shalini Patil]] | children = [[Prakashbapu Vasantdada Patil|Prakashbapu Patil]] | father = Banduji Patil | relatives = [[Pratik Prakashbapu Patil|Pratik Patil]] (grandson)<br />[[Vishal Patil]] (grandson) <ref>{{Cite web|title=Swabhimani Paksha fields Vasantdada Patil's grandson in Sangli|url=https://indianexpress.com/elections/swabhimani-paksha-fields-vasantdada-patils-grandson-in-sangli-5650949/|access-date=2019-03-31|website=Indianexpress.com|date=31 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref> }}

'''Vasantrao Banduji Patil''' (13 November 1917 – 1 March 1989) was an Indian politician from [[Sangli]], [[Maharashtra]]. He was known as the first modern [[Maratha]] strongman<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hansen|first=Thomas Blom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bf5ZDwAAQBAJ&q=Vasantdada%20Patil%20strongman&pg=PA66|title=Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay|date=2018-06-05|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-18862-1|pages=66|language=en}}</ref> and first mass leader in Maharashtrian politics.

Patil served as [[Chief Minister of Maharashtra]] from 17 May 1977 to 18 July 1978 and again from 2 February 1983 to 1 June 1985.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A.R. Antulay supporters petition for prosecution of CM Vasantdada Patil, wife Shalinitai|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/cover-story/story/19840331-a.r.-antulay-supporters-petition-for-prosecution-of-cm-vasantdada-patil-wife-shalinitai-803720-1984-03-31|access-date=2014-04-11|website=indiatoday.in|language=en}}</ref> He also served as the governor of [[Rajasthan]] for a little under two years from 1985 to 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rajasthan Governor Vasantdada Patil steps up efforts to unseat Maharashtra CM S.B. Chavan|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19870731-rajasthan-governor-vasantdada-patil-steps-up-efforts-to-unseat-maharashtra-cm-s.b.-chavan-799116-1987-07-31|access-date=2014-01-03|website=indiatoday.in|language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life== Born on 13 November 1917 at 'Padmale' {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Sangli, his native village. He was a Kadam-Patil. He studied up to the vernacular final. Then he became a farmer. His first wife, Malati-tai Patil died in 1960s. Soon later, he married [[Shalinitai Patil]] (then Shalini Jadhav before her second marriage) who was a widow herself with four children from her first marriage. She herself was a minister in Maharashtra in 1980s. Vasantdada did not have any children from his second marriage. His son from the first marriage with Malti-tai Patil, named [[Prakashbapu Vasantdada Patil|Prakash Patil]], represented [[Sangli (Lok Sabha constituency)|Sangli]] in Lok Sabha. After Prakash Patil's death in 2005, his son (and Vasantdada's grandson) [[Pratik Patil]] became MP from Sangli twice.

==Freedom fighter== Vasantdada was jailed by the British in the 1940s for his activity in the independence movement.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

==Political career== He was Chief Minister of Maharashtra three times between 1976 and 1985.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

He was elected as a member of [[7th Lok Sabha]] from [[Sangli (Lok Sabha constituency)]] in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.elections.in/parliamentary-constituencies/1980-election-results.html|title=General (7th Lok Sabha) Election Results India- Maharashtra : 46 (Sangli)|website=elections.in}}</ref>

==Political and family connections== In 1985 he was embroiled in a public dispute with a Deputy Commissioner of BMC, [[G R Khairnar]], for having demolished Patil's son's hotel "Step In". Khairnar eventually became a hero for taking on politicians, including Sharad Pawar. This dispute, meanwhile, discredited Congress rule and combined with other issues, gave the [[Shiv Sena (1966–2022)|Shiv Sena]]-[[Bharatiya Janata Party|BJP]] combination an upper hand in subsequent elections. His elder son [[Prakashbapu Vasantdada Patil]] and his grandson [[Pratik Prakashbapu Patil]] are former MPs from [[Sangli]].

Vasantadada had a vast circle, but few close friends. Among these were Dhulappa Navale, V.S.Page, Charudatta (Charubhai) Shah, P Pandurang Kadam (Tatya), Sampatrao Mane (Nana) and Vitthal Patil.

In 1958, Vasantdada Patil, along with friends including Dhulappa Navale, Rambhau Arwade, Abasaheb Shinde, Shankarao Shinde, and [[A. G. Kulkarni|Abasaheb Kulkarni (Khebudkar)]], established pioneering cooperative projects.

His second wife, [[Shalinitai Patil]], is an [[Member of the Legislative Assembly (India)|MLA]] from [[Koregaon]], [[Satara district]]. She joined the [[Nationalist Congress Party]] (NCP) in 1999, but was expelled for her opposition to reservation of 27.5% for [[Other Backward Classes]] (OBCs) in academic institutes such as [[Indian Institutes of Technology]] (IIT) and [[Indian Institutes of Management]] (IIM). However, she later declared that [[Marathas]] were too big a community for any political party to displease, and said "... the economically backward classes across all communities should be given reservation. At least 50 per cent of Maharashtra's population needs quotas."

Vasantdada Patil died on 1 March 1989.

==Recognition== [[File:Vasantdada Patil 2012 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Patil on a 2012 stamp of India]]

* [[Padma Bhushan]] award (1967).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dashboard-padmaawards.gov.in/?Name=Va&Award=Padma%20Bhushan&Year=1967-1967|title=PREVIOUS AWARDEES 1967-Shri Vasantrao Bandoji Patil|website=padmaawards.gov.in}}</ref> * [[Padmabhushan Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan's College of Engineering]] in [[Mumbai]] is named in his honour.

==See also==

*[[Sharad Pawar]] *[[Sundarrao Solanke]] *[[Vilasrao Deshmukh]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patil, Vasantdada}} [[Category:1917 births]] [[Category:1989 deaths]] [[Category:People from Sangli]] [[Category:Governors of Rajasthan]] [[Category:Chief ministers of Maharashtra]] [[Category:Marathi politicians]] [[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra]] [[Category:Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra]] [[Category:India MPs 1980–1984]] [[Category:Maharashtra MLAs 1972–1978]] [[Category:Maharashtra MLAs 1978–1980]] [[Category:Maharashtra MLAs 1980–1985]] [[Category:Chief ministers from Indian National Congress]] [[Category:Indian National Congress (U) politicians]] [[Category:Presidents of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee]]