“Yes I have heard about you..you are doing a wonderful job” were the words of Eknath Keshav Thakur, the Chairman of the biggest urban cooperative bank Saraswat when Indian Cooperative approached him for the first time. Thakur is no more as he breathed his last on Thursday waging a heroic fight against cancer.
Beginning from a humble background the man had something in him. In a span of merely a decade he made Saraswat Bank, the pride of Indian cooperative movement. For past some years he was not keeping good health and would not come to posh Mumbai office. But he kept a tab nevertheless.
A great champion of cooperative cause he would often ask this correspondent to organize an umbrella cooperative conference. “Look you are not confined to one sector as your news portal covers all aspects of cooperative movement. Try to bring all of us together at one platform sometimes in future”, he used to say.
He guided the growth of Saraswat bank with utter grit and determination and left it at Rs 36,000 crore by the time he bid adieu to us. A Rajya Sabha MP from Shiv Sena he made up for his humble beginning by studying in foreign universities too.
Eknath would often drive pride from the majestic offices of Saraswat Bank he built around the country including Mumbai and Delhi. “Have you seen our office in Delhi, you must go and visit it next time you are in town”, he told this correspondent with a shine in his eyes.
Thakur never accepted the leadership of NAFCUB and sang a tune different from the apex body of urban cooperative banks. Though he was accommodated in the apex national cooperative body NCUI also, he never participated in any of its meetings and left it on his representative to carry out the formalities.
That is partly because he was full of ambitions and knew how to achieve his goals. The cooperative bodies were not as fast and racy as he would have liked them to be. He picked up many enemies in the process but never let go of any opportunity that would do benefit Saraswat Bank.
Saraswat Bank’s merger with some of the ailing urban cooperative banks left many erstwhile depositors disappointed. But Thakur always assured Indian Cooperative of having done no hanky-panky. He was a man.
