Ramchandra Singh Deo (1930-2018)
Ramchandra Singh Deo, Chhattisgarh’s first finance minister who held cabinet positions in the undivided Madhya Pradesh on multiple occasions, passed away at a private hospital in Raipur on Friday morning. He was 88.
A fierce campaigner for tribal rights and staunch supporter of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, Deo was a rare politician who had managed to unite the political class and civil society groups in his political career spanning over five decades.
On Friday, as the news of his death spread, tributes poured in from politicians and social activists. Born into royalty on February 13, 1930, Deo was the son of the erstwhile king of Koriya kingdom (present day Koriya district) in Chhattisgarh.
An alumnus of Raipur’s Rajkumar College and University of Allahabad, Deo worked as a still photographer between 1960 and 1962 with famed filmmaker Satyajit Ray, before joining politics. A Congressman, he made political debut by winning from Baikunthpur (Koriya) Assembly seat in 1967 — a seat that he retained for more than five times over the next 40 years, till his last election win in 2003. During this period, he became irrigation minister twice and water resources minister once, before becoming the first finance minister of Chhattisgarh. Yet what really set Deo apart was his expertise on issues like irrigation, agriculture and tribal welfare. He also authored a number of books.
When Deo retired from electoral politics in 2008, he is famously known to have blamed his inability to participate in a politics where the ability to distribute alcohol and money were key.