Raosaheb Ramrao Patil, better known as R. R. Patil (16 August 1957 – 16 February 2015) was an Indian politician from the state of
Maharashtra. He was an
MLA for Tasgaon vidhan sabha constituency from 1991 to 2015. He was an important leader of modern Maharashtra. He was a member of the
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...
. He became
Home Minister
The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...
of Maharashtra for the second time after the 2009 Maharashtra assembly election victory of the Congress-NCP alliance. He was also the former
Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
The Deputy Chief Minister Of Maharashtra is the deputy head of the executive branch of the Government of Maharashtra and the second highest ranking minister of the Council of Ministers.
List of deputy chief ministers
See also
*List of govern ...
.
Early life
R. R. Patil, popularly known as "Aaba", (
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
:आबा) was born on 16 August 1957 in the village of Anjani, in the
Tasgaon
Tasgaon Tasgaon is a city in Maharashtra and a municipal council in Sangli district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Tasgaon city is developing city in Maharashtra. Tasgaon was given as Jahagir to Parshuram Bhau Tasgaonkar by Narayanrao Ba ...
taluka
A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...
,
Sangli district
Sangli district (Marathi pronunciation: aːŋɡli is a district of Maharashtra state in India. Sangli city is the district headquarters. It is bordered by Satara district, Solapur district to the North, Karnataka state to South-East, by Kolh ...
in the State of Maharashtra. Despite his father being the village head, their financial condition was not good. He completed most of his education under the government scheme of "Earn & Learn". He obtained a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
and an
LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
from Shantiniketan college in
Sangli
Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...
.
Career
Patil was a member of Sangli Zillah Parishad from 1979 to 1990 from
Savlaj
Savlaj (also Savalaj) is a village in Tasgaon tehsil in Sangli district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is named after the village god Lord Savalsiddh or Savalsiddha.
Savlaj has a grampanchayat with 17 members and is a major village wi ...
constituency, then was elected to the
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 me ...
in 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014 representing
Tasgaon
Tasgaon Tasgaon is a city in Maharashtra and a municipal council in Sangli district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Tasgaon city is developing city in Maharashtra. Tasgaon was given as Jahagir to Parshuram Bhau Tasgaonkar by Narayanrao Ba ...
, in
Sangli district
Sangli district (Marathi pronunciation: aːŋɡli is a district of Maharashtra state in India. Sangli city is the district headquarters. It is bordered by Satara district, Solapur district to the North, Karnataka state to South-East, by Kolh ...
. He became the Chief Whip of the Congress Party in the assembly as well as the chairman of the public accounts committee of the assembly in 1996–97 and 1998–99.
After
1999 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, he became the
Rural Development Minister of Maharashtra in the Congress-NCP coalition government in October 1999. He became the
Home Minister
The Minister of Home Affairs (or simply, the Home Minister, short-form HM) is the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Government of India. One of the senior-most officers in the Union Cabinet, the chief responsibility of the Home Minist ...
of Maharashtra on 25 December 2003. After taking charge of Home Ministry, he also sought guardianship of
naxal activity affected district
Gadchiroli
Gadchiroli ( əɖt͡ʃiɾoliː is a city and a municipal council in Gadchiroli district in the state of Maharashtra, central India. It is located on eastern side of Maharashtra, and is the administrative headquarters of the district. Gadchi ...
. Since then, in spite of many naxal attacks, he encouraged natives to support elected government through some developmental work for them. On 1 November 2004, he was sworn in as the
Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra
The Deputy Chief Minister Of Maharashtra is the deputy head of the executive branch of the Government of Maharashtra and the second highest ranking minister of the Council of Ministers.
List of deputy chief ministers
See also
*List of govern ...
. He was also the chief of the
Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...
's Maharashtra unit and NCP legislative party in
Maharashtra.
He was the most respected politician in Maharashtra, also christened as 'Mr Clean' in political circles due to his clean image in the erstwhile tainted political party and also due to cleanliness awareness initiatives like "Gadage Baba Swachata Abhiyan" & "Tantamukt Gaon".
Controversy
His comments in the aftermath of the November
2008 Mumbai attacks have drawn severe criticism for downplaying the gravity of the situation. He was quoted as saying, "They (the terrorists) came to kill 5,000 people but we ensured minimal damage". Sources close to him have argued that his comments are being taken out of context and that he did not intend to downplay the grievous attack.
He resigned on 1 December 2008 after further remarks on the attacks. When asked at a press conference whether the terror strike was an intelligence failure Patil said, "It is not like that. In big cities like this, small incidents do happen. It's [sic] is not a total failure." Patil's words drew flak from many quarters. Mumbai residents who saw him say this on television or were told about it by reporters pointed out the irony of politicians making such statements after being provided high security.
Death
Patil died at
Lilavati Hospital
The Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre is a private hospital located in Bandra, Mumbai, India. The hospital was established in 1978 by the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust.
History
In 1978, Kirtilal Manilal Mehta—a diamond ...
and Research Centre after a long fight with oral cancer. Patil showed signs of improvement after his initial treatment and was taken off life support in January 2015, but he succumbed to the disease on 16 February 2015. The last rites were performed in Anjani village in Tasgaon area of
Sangli
Sangli () is a city and the district headquarters of Sangli District in the state of Maharashtra, in western India. It is known as the Turmeric City of Maharashtra due to its production and trade of the spice. Sangli is situated on the banks ...
district, Maharashtra on 17 February 2015. Patil's funeral was held with state honours, including a 21-gun salute by the Maharashtra government and was attended by the Maharashtra Chief Minister
Devendra Fadnavis
Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (Marathi pronunciation: ेवेंद्र फडणवीस born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician serving as the 9th and current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He served as ...
,
Anna Hazare,
Sharad Pawar
Sharad Govindrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: əɾəd̪ pəʋaːɾ born 12 December 1940) is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on four occasions. He has held the posts of Minister of Defence and Mini ...
and other political leaders from various parties.
References
External links
Aaba Patil's Blog-
rediff.com
Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City.
, it had more than 300 e ...
article dated 29 October 2004
"''R R Patil elected new deputy CM of Maharashtra''"- HindustanTimes.com article dated 29 October 2004
- HindustanTimes.com dated 29 October 2004
-
Mid-Day
''Mid-Day'' (stylised as mid-day) is a morning daily Indian compact newspaper owned by Jagran Prakashan Limited. Editions in various languages were published in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune. In 2011, the Delhi and Bangalore editions wer ...
article dated 29 October 2004
"''R R Patil to become Maha DyCM''"-
Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest se ...
article dated 29 October 2004isters of Indian states
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patil, R. R.
1957 births
2015 deaths
Marathi politicians
Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra
Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra
People from Sangli district
Maharashtra MLAs 1990–1995
Maharashtra MLAs 1995–1999
Maharashtra MLAs 1999–2004
Maharashtra MLAs 2004–2009
Maharashtra MLAs 2009–2014
State cabinet ministers of Maharashtra
Maharashtra MLAs 2014–2019
Deaths from oral cancer
Deaths from cancer in India