Sahakar Bharati founder Laxman Rao Inamdar’s name figured again on Wednesday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi named him as a man whom he would turn to in all situations of life till Vakil Saheb was alive.
“Whenever I would get a good news or a bad one I would rush to Shri Inamdar to tell him about it”, Modi reminisced in a TV interview. Modi said one needs to have someone in whom one can confide whatever happens to him or whatever comes to his mind.
Readers would know that a committed cooperator Late Inamdar had a firm belief that the cooperative model has the capacity to alleviate poverty in the country. He established Sahakar Bharati in 1978. The cooperative body completed 40 years of its existence recently.
Sahakar Bharati’s first office was set up in Pune with an objective to enlighten the masses about the benefits of the cooperative movement. Today Sahakar Bharati claims its presence in 400 districts across the country.
Satish Marathe, who had the opportunity to work with late Inamdar remembers the latter’s zeal in furthering the cause of the co-op movement. NCDC has also set up a state-of-the art cooperative institute in the name of late Inamdar in Gurgaon, Haryana.
It is worth a mention that Sahakar Bharati celebrated the Laxman Rao Inamdar Centenary year in 2017 at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In the TV interview the Prime Minister said one should have somebody in life whom he can tell everything. The only caution he advised was that the said person should not be aware of it, said Modi. I am naming Vakil Saheb as he is no more; had he been alive I would have not named him, Modi stated.
When asked if he still has somebody whom he turns to in both the highs and lows of his life, Modi answered in the affirmative but he refused to divulge the name. “The disclosure would make him conscious and he would not be able to advise you as neutrally as required”, Modi explained.
Modi also stressed on the need of having one such person in everybody’s life. He need not be a scholar or an erudite person but somebody who knows you and who can advise you impartially, Modi underlined.