Want to be remembered as a man who fought to secure water rights of his people: ex-PM Deve Gowda

Bengaluru: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda who was conferred a honorary doctorate by Bangalore University on Tuesday said he wants to be remembered as a man who fought to the best of his ability to secure water rights for his people.

Deve Gowda, a Rajya Sabha member, said he has been in public life for 60 years, and it is not just electoral politics that has kept him going.

"Whatever little time I got to be in power as a minister or chief minister or prime minister I tried to work with big ideas and I did not waste a single minute," he said.

"When people think of me many years after I am gone, I want them to think of me as a man who fought to the best of his ability to secure water rights for his people," the 90-year-old former Karnataka Chief Minister said after receiving the doctoral degree at the 58th annual convocation of Bangalore University.

"What has always inspired me are big development ideas. Ideas that can make a huge difference to millions of ordinary people. When I entered politics I gave myself a purpose. I wanted to harness the waters of river Cauvery for the benefit of farmers in the old Mysore region. I tried to understand the dispute between Madras and Mysore in the past two centuries,' he said.

At the same time, he said, he became involved with the harnessing of the Krishna river water. Gradually, understanding water rights and water treaties and fighting for Cauvery and Krishna water became a passion. "This passion has sustained me as a politician. It has given my life a direction. I want it to also be my legacy." Deve Gowda said he worked with commitment on the height of the Narmada dam, the making of the Tehri dam and to ensure that the Farakka treaty was beneficial for both India and Bangladesh.

"As I grew older I realised to be involved with so many rivers of India was the greatest blessing I received. Even as I got involved with rivers, I tried to teach myself aspects of river basin planning, irrigation, agriculture and the rural economy. I had no formal training in any of these fields. I only had an ordinary diploma degree in civil engineering. But I decided to educate myself," he further said.

His initial stint in the opposition which lasted for over 20 years since he first became a legislator in 1962, was a great learning phase in his life. The Karnataka State Assembly was like a university, and he was surrounded by learned senior colleagues who inspired him. He also travelled across the globe in Europe, America and Asia in the 1970s to understand modern infrastructure projects, farming practices and policy making. "Politics for me has been about continuous education," Deve Gowda said.