Having risen from poverty, RR Patil felt it was his duty to help the poor: Namdeorao Kargane

"He was an honest, principled man. Power never went to his head. He felt that since he had risen from poverty, it was his duty to help those from similar backgrounds," recalled Professor Namdeorao Kargane, a long-time associate of former deputy chief minister Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, who passed away after a protracted battle with cancer on Monday.

Fondly known as 'Aaba', RR Patil was an MLA from Tasgaon-Kavathe Mahankal in Sangli, and his party's clean face with an appeal across sections. Born into a family of farmers, he rose through crippling poverty and deprivation to become a lawyer. His father Ramrao, a ration shop owner and Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) worker, died early, after which prizes won in elocution competitions and the 'earn and learn' scheme helped fund his education.

Involved in activism since his student days, Patil, who was known for his sober, effective oratory, was initially mentored by former chief minister Vasantdada Patil and Tasgaon MLA Dinkaraba Patil before he joined hands with NCP president Sharad Pawar. In 1979, local residents funded Patil's election to the Sangli zilla parishad from Savlaj constituency as a Congress (S) candidate. Incidentally, Patil could not afford footwear when he was elected. In 1990, he contested the assembly polls as a Congress candidate against ex-mentor Dinkaraba and won.

During his tenure, Patil worked hard to bring irrigation to his drought-affected taluka, even launching an indefinite fast demanding utilisation of the state's quota of water from the Krishna river. Today, Tasgaon, which is famous for table grapes, sees an annual turnover of Rs 450 crore of raisins, next only to Nashik.

In 1995, Patil was an aggressive opposition MLA against the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government. In 1999, when Pawar split to form the NCP, Patil sided with him and was the rural development minister from 1999 to 2003. During his tenure, he initiated the Sant Gadge Maharaj cleanliness campaign for villages.

After deputy chief minister and home minister Chhagan Bhujbal quit under a cloud in 2003, Patil became the home minister. In the 2004 polls, Patil, who was fighting against Dinkaraba's nephew and incumbent BJP MP Sanjaykaka Patil, was among those candidates who had been supported by social crusader Anna Hazare. During the elections, Patil's not so subtle propaganda to consolidate the Marathas in the wake of the James Laine controversy helped the NCP become the single-largest party.

Patil's tenure however not free of controversies. As deputy chief minister and home minister, Patil was instrumental in banning dance bars. Though the decision was questioned by many, Patil supported it, pointing to how the lure of these bars had led to youth going astray. A comment he made about the 26/11 attacks, about which he said, "Such small things happening in big cities," made him a magnet for critics. The comment led to his resignation.

Unlike politicians who hang on to their official bungalows even after they have lost their ministerial portfolios, Patil vacated his Malabar Hill bungalow the very next day. He was NCP state chief before being appointed as the home minister in 2009. Patil had voluntarily become the guardian minister of Naxal violence affected Gadchiroli. In 2014, he braved a challenge from former minister Ajit Ghorpade "Sarkar" to be elected as a MLA for the fifth term.

Even as he steadily rose up the political ladder, he took along with him the memories of where he first started. Prof Kargane recalled how Patil, a profilic reader of works on Mahatma Phule, Chatrapati Shahu and Babasaheb Ambedkar, did not eat laddoos during Diwali as a bitter memory of days when he had sleep on an empty stomach during the festival.

A serving IAS officer, then a district collector, recalled how Patil had braved political pressure to stand by him when he had restrained builders from using water for construction in view of the water shortage in the region.

"Even when I met him during his illness, he asked me about my sugar factory and the release of irrigation water. This showed his concern for the common man," said Vijaykumar Sagare, chairman of Tasgaon's Mahankali sugar factory.

Shabbir Ansari, stalwart of the Muslim OBC movement, recalled how Patil had given instructions to his personal assistants to feed him lunch from his own tiffin whenever they saw him in Mantralaya. Patil's other associates rued that his fondness for tobacco products since youth may have cut his life and promising career short.