Vasantrao Phulsing Naik (1 July 1913 – 18 August 1979) was an Indian

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

from 1963 until 1975. To this date, he remains as the longest-serving Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Also, he had a credit to return to power after completion of full five years. Vasantrao Naik is pioneer of green revolution and white revolution in Maharashtra state.

Career

He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

during 1952-1957, of the then bilingual

Bombay State Bombay State was a large Indian state created at the time of India's Independence, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding Sou ...

during 1957-1960 and of

during 1960 to 1977. In 1952, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Revenue in the Government of Madhya Pradesh. He was made Minister for Cooperation in 1957 and, later, Minister for Agriculture in the Government of Bombay State. From 1960 to 1963, he was Minister for Revenue in the Government of Maharashtra. After the death of

Marotrao Kannamwar Marotrao Shambshio Kannamwar was an Indian politician who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 20 November 1962 to 24 November 1963. He represented Saoli Vidhan Sabha constituency in Bombay State in 1957 and of the Maharashtra State ...

, Naik was elected Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a post which he held for more than eleven years during 1963-1975. He is considered the father of the

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

in Maharashtra. The industrialization of Maharashtra is largely the legacy of his progressive industrial policies. He was also elected to the

6th Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India. The 6th Lok Sabha, which ran from 23 March 1977 to 22 August 1979 was elected in February and March 1977. 11 sitting members from Rajya Sabha were elected to 6t ...

from

Washim Washim (Vatsagulma) is a city and a Municipal Council in Washim district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Washim is the district headquarters of Washim district. Etymology Washim was known earlier as Vatsagulma and it was the seat of powe ...

in 1977.

Death

V. P. Naik died in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

on 18 August 1979. Later his nephew

Sudhakarrao Naik Sudhakarrao Rajusing Naik (21 August 1934 – 10 May 2001) was an Indian politician from Indian National Congress party who served as Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 25 June 1991 until 22 February 1993 following the communal riots. He had ...

also became Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Many journalists and experts of political studies attribute the rise of right wing party

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

in the 1970s to his policy of building up the Shiv Sena as a counterweight to the communist-led labour unions in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Legacy

He was the founder and Managing Committee member of the ''Janta Shikshan Prasarak Mandal'' and the Babasaheb Naik College of Engineering, Pusad. The

Shri Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College Shri Vasantrao Naik Government Medical College, (SVNGMC) is a Government Medical college & Hospital in Yavatmal city, in the Vidarbha region of the Maharashtra, India; that provides medical education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. S ...

Yavatmal Yavatmal ( is a city and municipal council in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Yavatmal District. Yavatmal is around 90 km away from divisional headquarters Amravati while it is away from the stat ...

city of

state, was named in his honour. The 2015 Marathi film Mahanayak vasant tu, starring

Chinmay Mandlekar Chinmay Mandlekar (born 2 February 1979) is an Indian actor, writer and stage director, mostly active in the Marathi entertainment industry. He is known for his work in Zenda, Morya, ''Farzand'' (2018), ''Fatteshikast'' (2019), ''The Kashmir F ...

, is his

biopic A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Vasantrao 1913 births 1979 deaths Chief Ministers of Maharashtra India MPs 1977–1979 Marathi politicians Maharashtra MLAs 1960–1962 Maharashtra MLAs 1962–1967 Maharashtra MLAs 1967–1972 Maharashtra MLAs 1972–1978 People from Yavatmal district Madhya Pradesh MLAs 1952–1957 Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra People from Washim district Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Bombay State MLAs 1957–1960