The eventful years of Patwari, a Gandhian-Governor of Tamil Nadu

Prabhudas Balubhai Patwari, a Gandhian Tamil Nadu Governor, faced challenges and controversies during his eventful tenure.

Prabhudas Balubhai Patwari was a Gandhian and the Tamil Nadu Governor. He was no high-profile political leader that his predecessor Mohanlal Sukhadia was. Sukhadia had earlier served Rajasthan as its Chief Minister for 17 years at a stretch. The change in the incumbent at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai was a sequel to the change of guard at the Centre: the Janata Party government, led by Morarji Desai, took over in late March 1977 after the Congress, headed by Indira Gandhi, lost in the Lok Sabha election.

A Congress man of the old order, Patwari took part in the anti-Simon Commission agitation, the Salt Satyagraha and the 1942 Quit India Movement. Patwari had his school education in Rajkot and took his degrees in Economics and Law in Ahmedabad. He “was content with an eight-year term as member of the Bombay Legislative Council (from 1952 to 1960)”. This was what The Hindu wrote on April 28, 1977, in an article on his becoming the Tamil Nadu Governor.

During the Emergency, he was first arrested in the Baroda Dynamite Case in April 1976. After he secured bail in this case, he was arrested again under the now-repealed Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA). He was lodged at the Tihar Jail, New Delhi, for many months till his release in February 1977. Not many people of Tamil Nadu did know him then; yet, he was no stranger to the State as his daughter had lived for ten years in Coimbatore where his son-in-law held a senior position in the Sugarcane Breeding Station. “During this period, he had visited Coimbatore many times,” the article said. He had two distinctions — the first Governor to get dismissed by the President and the only Governor to witness two spells of President’s Rule.

Perhaps, in deference to his Gandhian leanings, Patwari, on his arrival at the Chennai airport before being sworn in as the Governor, was welcomed by A. Rathinam, a 12-year-old girl belonging to a Scheduled Caste. She garlanded him and applied the tilak on his forehead. Patwari’s swearing-in took place at the Rajaji Hall on the campus of, what is now called, the Omandurar Government Estate. Among those who attended the ceremony was DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, who was removed from power about 15 months earlier. In the 1977 Lok Sabha election, the DMK, the Janata Party, and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) contested together and won four seats. At a brief interaction with journalists after assuming office, Patwari had this to say: “I have come to serve Tamil Nadu to the best of whatever I can on Gandhian lines. I love the Tamil people very much because they are cultured, honest, and hard-working.” He meant the words “Gandhian lines”, for their significance could be understood only later.

He swung into action in November 1977 when Tamil Nadu was battered by a severe cyclonic storm that devastated its neighbour Andhra Pradesh. Over 3.5 lakh houses, 70% of them being thatched dwelling units, and the crops standing on about five lakh acres were affected. Apart from getting a trust in Gujarat (of which he was the managing trustee) to sanction ₹1 lakh each for Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, he organised a meeting of citizens to invite suggestions for implementing the relief and rehabilitation programme effectively and speedily, said a report of this newspaper on November 24, 1977. At the meeting, Patwari announced that the Sankaracharya of Sringeri had sent ₹6,000 and the ailing Dravida Kazhagam leader, Maniammai, ₹5,000. A few days later, he went to Mumbai for fundraising; he said thereafter that in his estimate, ₹2 crore would flow into the State.

After the ruling AIADMK suffered a drubbing in the 1980 Lok Sabha election held in January, its adversaries started demanding the resignation of Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran (MGR). As Indira Gandhi also returned to power, there was speculation that Patwari would quit the post. In mid-February, Tamil Nadu and eight other States were brought under President’s Rule with the dissolution of the Assemblies and removal of the Chief Ministers. According to the lead story of The Hindu on February 18, 1980, Karunanidhi, “who has been in Delhi for the last two days, has pressed hard for the inclusion of Tamil Nadu”.

The day after the AIADMK’s first innings in office came to an end, Patwari went to Fort St. George for a meeting with the then Chief Secretary, V. Karthikeyan, and the Secretaries of various departments. He announced at a press conference that the liberalised liquor permit rules, introduced by the erstwhile government on February 2, would be kept in abeyance. He also ordered that the transfer of a number of IAS officers, ordered by the MGR government on its final day, would not take effect. Soon, he became the target of attack by the AIADMK and an association of fans of thespian Sivaji Ganesan, who was with the Congress led by Indira Gandhi for different reasons. He was accused of being “partisan” and not facilitating the smooth implementation of the 20 Point Programme, a pet project of Indira Gandhi. As prohibition was a matter of passion for him, he communicated to the Centre the stand of all the parties in the State. However, he had to retreat, as the State government, after consultations with the Centre on the continuance or otherwise of the relaxed prohibition policy of the AIADMK government, had restored the liberalised liquor permits. In early June, MGR was back as the Chief Minister, with his party securing a majority of its own in the Assembly election.