Vasant Sathe: The Congressman who always spoke his mind

He also authored over half-a-dozen books,including India to be a Global Power and his autobiography Memoirs of a Rationalist. Lately,Sathe had retired from active politics. Sathe was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from Akola,Maharashtra,in 1972,and remained an MP from Vidarbha till 1994. During the period after the Emergency — when he was among the few Congress leaders to win — he was the deputy leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

It was for his tenure as the Information and Broadcasting minister in the last Indira Gandhi government that he is still remembered,for this is when colour TV was introduced in India,in the run-up to the 1982 Asian Games.

Never known to mince his words,Sathe,a lawyer by profession,is still remembered for having toured the country starting a nation-wide debate in favour of a presidential system of governance despite being in the government.

However,his detractors believed this was an exercise in sycophancy as he wanted to see Indira emerge stronger. He was even accused by some of having hit the streets and leading a mob during the anti-Sikh riots that followed her assassination in 1984.

“I had participated in one such debate (on presidential form of government) in Lucknow when I was an MLA,” senior socialist leader and Rajya Sabha MP Mohan Singh remembered Friday,adding that while he differed with Sathe on some issues,his demise was a loss to the country.

Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes also remembers Sathe’s frankness. “I had come to know him when I came to Delhi in 1980. I was in-charge of Maharashtra,where he was already a tall leader. He never hesitated to voice his opinions.”

At another time,after the Congress failed to get a clear majority in a general election,Sathe had started a debate on forming a “national” government with selected leaders from all major parties. In 2000,he sat on an indefinite fast demanding that Parliament pass a resolution to achieve “economic self-reliance”. For this purpose he demanded that at least 10 per cent of the country’s rich be brought in the tax net so that the revenue from direct taxes would become more than indirect taxes and would help bridge the deficit

Sathe ended his fast unto death after six hours when Sonia Gandhi offered him a glass of milk following an assurance by then parliamentary affairs minister Pramod Mahajan that the government would take steps in this regard.

In May this year,he grabbed headlines when he suggested that Priyanka Gandhi Vadra join active politics to help mother Sonia and brother Rahul bring the Congress to power on its own.

Because of his outspokenness,he was considered arrogant by many of his detractors. Some references in his memoirs had also been denied by many,such as a purported discussion with Indira on his relations with his wife.

A vocal advocate of Vidarbha till his death,he spoke bitterly of the party high command not keeping the promise of statehood to the region.

President PratibhaPatil,Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BJP president Nitin Gadkari expressed their condolences at Sathe’s death.