‘Pleader to leader’: Dhankhar says was mentored in politics by ‘Tau’ Devi Lal
Advises students not to allow anyone to dictate their course of action and asks them not to be afraid of failure.
4 min read
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. (Express)Crediting former deputy prime minister “Tau” Devi Lal for shaping his political career, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday recalled how Devi Lal had encouraged him to transition from a “pleader” (lawyer) to a “leader”.
“I was not his relative… I remember the day when I saw him for the first time. When he asked me to contest the election, I replied that I was a pleader. He said to remove the ‘P’ and become a leader,” said Dhankhar, who practised as a senior advocate till assuming the Office of the Bengal Governor in July 2019.
Dhankhar was addressing a convocation ceremony at Mata Harki Devi Educational Institute in village Odhan of Sirsa district. The Vice-President also visited Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal Vidyapeeth (JCD) in Sirsa.
Dhankhar said Devi Lal was not a person but a thought that gave a historic turn to Indian politics. “His thinking and philosophy were dedicated to the villages, the poor and the farmers.”
“My political education, political initiation and philosophy have come from Chaudhary Devi Lal… Coming here is like a pilgrimage for me. The institution in the memory of Chaudhary Devi Lal’s wife has a deep significance for me,” Dhankhar said.
Dhankhar said, “Whichever post I served — a Union minister, West Bengal governor and today the Vice-President of India — behind all these there has been a complete contribution, not just contribution, of Chaudhary Devi Lal ji.”
Devi Lal, then the Haryana chief minister, had campaigned for Dhankhar when the Janata Dal fielded him from the Jhunjhunu parliamentary constituency in Rajasthan in 1989. Dhankhar won the election and became minister of state (parliamentary affairs) in the V P Singh government, and Devi Lal became the deputy prime minister.
Devi Lal’s family, too, recalls how Dhankhar stood by the veteran leader even during odds. “Following their differences, V P Singh had dismissed Devi Lal in 1990. Then, Dhankhar was the only minister who resigned from the Union Cabinet and stood by Chaudhary Devi Lal. It impressed Chaudhary Devi Lal, who called Dhankhar a man of commitment,” Devi Lal’s son and former Haryana minister Ranjit Singh Chautala had earlier told The Indian Express.
Later, Devi Lal became the deputy prime minister in the minority government led by Chandrashekhar, while Dhankhar became a minister.
The Vice-President also said, “When there is a doubt in my life… I tilt completely towards the philosophy of Chaudhary Devi Lal, keeping the interests of the farmer and village at the top of all.”
Talking about India’s progress, the vice president told the students that “no nation in the world has grown as fast with such a big leap as Bharat in the last decade”.
“If I share some figures with you, you will be surprised. The per capita internet consumption in Bharat is more than that of China and the US taken together. If we go about our digital transactions, the digital transactions are four times the combined transactions of the US, the UK, France and Germany.
“If you examine our economy, which was very fragile a decade ago… You are lucky to be living in times when Bharat is dotted with hope and possibility. There is an ecosystem in place of affirmative government policies, hand-holding policies that allow you full legroom to exploit your talent and potential and realise your ambitions and aspirations,” the Vice-President said.
Dhankhar advised students not to allow anyone to dictate their course of action and asked them not to be afraid of failure. He also told the students not to be startled if they received a setback. “An occasional failure only improves you,” he said.
He told the students that failure allows them to improve further. “Many of the greatest accomplishments in history have never succeeded in the first attempt,” he added.
Dhankhar invited the students to visit Parliament and said he would be happy if they came in the coming session.
Haryana Minister Ranbir Gangwa, Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala, also the president of the Devi Lal Memorial Trust; INLD MLA Arjun Chautala, the chairman of JCD Vidyapeeth, were among others present.
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