Dr. Gopalrao Bajirao Deshmukh alias Abasaheb Khedkar (14 January 1901 – 25 May 1969), also known as Abasaheb Khedkar was a social activist and a farmer's leader in India. He was the Minister of Rural Development in the first cabinet ministry of Maharashtra and the first President of

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (or Maharashtra PCC) is the state unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of Maharashtra. The head office of the organization is situated in Dadar, Mumbai and administrative office in Colaba ...

Biography

He was born at Khed in

Amravati Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...

district of

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...

, Maharashtra on 14 January 1901. In 1917, after his matriculation Abasaheb studied Homeopathy from Kolkata. In 1920, when he was studying at

Victoria Technical School he came across

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

non co-operation movement. He established Shivaji Boarding in 1923 which later became Shivaji Education Society.

Political career

Abasaheb Khedkar was a protagonist of Samyukta Maharashtra and opposed to formation of separate Vidarbha. He wanted all Marathi speaking areas of India to be united under one state of Maharashtra, in the larger interest of Marathi people. He was one of the signatories of the informal agreement reached in 1953 by Marathi speaking politicians from different regions of Marathi speaking areas on the composition, and organization of the future Maharashtra state. The agreement is popularly known as the Nagpur Pact. He was the first president of

. He refused to take the position of

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 ...

of Maharashtra and preferred to take up the Rural Development portfolio. He was instrumental in implementing

Panchayat raj The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...

in Maharashtra in the form of Zilla parishads (Equivalent to County or District Councils) in 1962.

Akola Loksabha

Khedkar was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

From

Akola Akola () is a municipal corporation and the third largest city in Vidarbha after Nagpur and Amravati and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital, Mumbai, and west of the second capital, Nagpur. A ...

Lok Sabha constituency twice and served in the Lok sabha from 1951 to 1960. He resigned from the Lok sabha in 1960 to enter into government of the newly formed state of Maharashtra.

Akot Vidhansabha

Khedkar was elected from Akot constituency in 1962 to the first legislative assembly of the newly formed state of Maharashtra. He was re-elected from the same constituency in the 1967 elections.

Death and legacy

* Dr. Abasaheb Khedkar died in 1969 at

. * Shri Shivaji Arts and Commerce Mahavidyalaya at Telhara district Akola was renamed in his memory to Dr Gopalrao Khedkar Mahavidyalaya Gadegaon (Telhara). * A Special cover of the Indian Postal Stamp was issued by the then President Of India, Mrs Pratibha Patil in 2013 at Amravati. Early in Mrs. Patil's career, Abasaheb had been her political mentor. His son was Late Vasantrao Gopalrao Khedkar Retd. IAS and daughter Late Nalini Vasant Deshmukh.

References

External links

About Amravati District

Shri Shivaji Education Society, Amravati

First MPCC President
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khedkar, Gopalrao 1969 deaths 1900s births People from Amravati district Nehru administration India MPs 1952–1957 India MPs 1957–1962 Maharashtra MLAs 1962–1967 Maharashtra MLAs 1967–1972 Indian homeopaths Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra Marathi politicians Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra