Yashwantrao Chavan

Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (12 March 1913 – 25 November 1984) was an Indian politician. He served as the Deputy Prime Minister of India from 1979 to 1980. He was a strong Congress leader. He is also co-operative leader, social activist and writer. He was popularly known as Leader of Common People.

Yashwantrao Chavan
5th Deputy Prime Minister of India
In office 28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980
Prime Minister	Charan Singh
Preceded by	Charan Singh Jagjivan Ram
Succeeded by	Devi Lal
Minister of Home Affairs
In office 28 July 1979 – 14 January 1980
Prime Minister	Charan Singh
Preceded by	Hirubhai M. Patel
Succeeded by	Zail Singh
In office 14 November 1966 – 27 June 1970
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Gulzarilal Nanda
Succeeded by	Indira Gandhi
Minister of External Affairs
In office 10 October 1974 – 24 March 1977
Preceded by	Sardar Swaran Singh
Succeeded by	Atal Bihari Vajpayee
Minister of Finance
In office 27 June 1970 – 10 October 1974
Prime Minister	Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Indira Gandhi
Succeeded by	Chidambaram Subramaniam
Minister of Defence
In office 14 November 1962 – 14 November 1966
Prime Minister	Jawaharlal Nehru Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) Lal Bahadur Shastri Gulzarilal Nanda (Acting) Indira Gandhi
Preceded by	Jawaharlal Nehru
Succeeded by	Sardar Swaran Singh
1st Chief Minister of Maharashtra
In office 1 May 1960 – 14 November 1962
Governor	Sri Prakasa P. Subbarayan Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Marotrao Kannamwar
3rd Chief Minister of Bombay State
In office 1 November 1956 – 30 April 1960
Governor	Harekrushna Mahatab Sri Prakasa
Preceded by	Morarji Desai
Succeeded by	office abolished
Personal details
Born	Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (1913-03-12)12 March 1913 Karad, Satara district, Bombay Presidency, British India
Died	25 November 1984(1984-11-25) (aged 71) New Delhi, India
Resting place	Yashwantrao Chavan Samadhi, Karad
Political party	Indian National Congress (Before 1977; 1981–1984)
Other political affiliations	Indian National Congress-Urs (1977) Janata Party (1977–1978) Indian National Congress-Socialist (1978–1981)
Spouse(s)	Venutai Chavan
Alma mater	University of Mumbai,ILS Law College

Chavan with his family.

Death and legacy

Yashwantrao Chavan died of a heart attack on 25 November 1984 in Delhi. He was aged 71 years.

Legacy

• Yashwantrao Chavan holds the record of being the only Maharashtrian leader. He held the 4 most important post in the Union government. They are Home, External Affairs, Defence and Finance.
• When Yashwantrao was appointed Federal Defence minister following the China war in 1962, a popular saying arose in Maharashtra- "हिमालयाच्या हाकेला धावला सह्याद्री" ("Himalayachya Hakela Dhavla Sahyadri"), translated in English, Sahyadri (the mountain range that separates Konkan from the Deccan Plateau) came rushing on the call (for help) by the Himalaya.
• During the 1960s and early 70s when Yashwantrao was at the peak of his power and influence, he was called Pratishivaji or New Shivaji.^[1]

Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan (Foundation)

• In 1985, soon after his death,Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishtan (Foundation) was established in Bombay.
• In 2010, The Pratishtan instituted a corpus at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) for the conduct of an annual Y B Chavan Memorial lecture. Yashwantrao was the founding President of IDSA.^[2] The inaugural lecture in 2010 was delivered by Prof. Sunil Khilnani. Prof. Kanti Bajpai, and Ambassador Kanwal Sibal delivered the 2011 and 2012 lectures respectively^[3]

Places named after Yashwantrao Chavan

• In 1980, Ujjani Back water named Yashwant Sagar on Bhima River village Ujjani in Solapur district.
• In 1984, an engineering college named Yeshwantrao Chavan College of Engineering was established in Nagpur.
• In 1989, an open university named 'Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University' was established at Nasik in Maharashtra. The expressway between Pune and Mumbai is named after him as are the auditoriums in the Kothrud suburb of Pune, at Nariman Point in Mumbai and the Town Hall in Karad.
• Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial hospital in Sant Tukaram Nagar area of Pimpri is named after him.
• Shivaji University, Kolhapur has established 'Yashwantrao Chavan School of Rural Development'.
• In 2009, the Mumbai Pune Expressway, India's first Express-Way, was named Yashwantrao Chavan Mumbai-Pune Express-Way.