Shri Dattopant Thengadi was born in the village of Arvi on Deepawali, 10 November 1920. He was a lawyer as well as a philosopher, and displayed an early talent for administration. At the age of 15, he served as president of the ‘Vanar Sena’ as well as the Municipal High School student union at Arvi. He actively took part in India's Freedom Movement and was a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association from 1936-38. He worked as organizing secretary of the Indian National Trade Union Congress from 1950–51, and was also associated with the Postal & Railway Workers Union. He was profoundly influenced by Sh. Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar, popularly known as Guru Ji, some of the other towering figures of the time who influenced his persona are- Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya. He always kept pace with time by establishing various organizations in different spheres, and maintained the core philosophy of Hindu Dharma and Bhartiya Darshan.
He was the member of the Rajya Sabha for two terms during 1964-76, also served as its vice-chairman in 1968-70, always left his indelible imprints on all the tasks he handled as parliamentarian. Shri Thengadi showed his leadership capabilities by organizing the anti Emergency movement in 1975, by way bringing together various political streams.
Travel
A widely traveled man, within India he practically travelled almost every district place in the country if not taluka and village. He also visited foreign shores, which includes- Soviet Union and Hungary as member of a parliamentary delegation, Geneva, Switzerland to attend Second International Anti-Apartheid Conference at Geneva. He was invited in USA, Canada, Britain and Yugoslavia in 1979 to study the impact of liberalization on trade union movement. His conviction also took him to, China, Jakarta, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, on various occasions. An erudite orator, expert in the social, economic and political issues, his soft but forcefully presentations of the issues always kept the audience spellbound. Disenchanted with both the western models of development, namely, Capitalism and Socialism, he propounded the ‘Third Way’ of socio-economic development based on the ideology of ‘Sanatan Dharma’. He authored many books which grew not only from his ideological conviction but also from his first hand experience, some of his widely read and referred works are: The Third Way; Modernization Without Westernization; What Sustains Sangh?, Our National Renaissance, It's Directions and Destination; Nationalist Pursuit; The great sentinel and The Perspective.
Death and Condolence
Dattopant Thengadi died on 14 October 2004 due to Brain Hemorrhage via Mahanirvaan. Great personalities of India and world gave him tribute.
