Chavan and His Times :
Almost all of local Government bodies were in the possession of leaders who sided with British Government. Late Mr. Kooper was the main leader and he was a friend of British Government. Raosaheb and Raobahadur and J. P.'s were leaders and local bodies were in the hands of such people. Many of them were non-Brahmins who were pro-Britishiers They were thrown in the background and new nationalised leadership became prominent. This was an important sociopolitical change started since 1930.
Even the followers of Tilak in Maharashtra left the Congress when Gandhi became the most powerful leader. Slowly, Kelkar and his followers went against the Congress and founded new party named " Lokashahi Swaraj Party" and fought assembly elections in 1934/35. Jedhe and Gadgil joined their hands and both of them were elected. It was an important event and it was rejoiced by Yashwantrao. (Krishna Kaath, P. No.137).
No doubt Chavan was a staunch admirer of Tilak since his school days but in his later life he was the follower of Gandhi and then Nehru. The vision of Chavan was not a narrow one. He was religious and somewhat even orthodox in his personal life, still he gave his wider meaning to idolatry. (Krishna Kaath, P. No.53). Still he never forced his personal views on others. Throughout his life he was engrossed in politics. Though he cannot be called as a socio-religious reformer still he never opposed the reformers like Tilak. Tilak in his speech delivered in Nipani said that peasants should not crave for council; they should only plough their fields. On the other hand, Chavan replaced urban leadership and established supremacy of the Rural leadership.
Chavan never criticised Tilak's weak side or he never exposed him like Maharshi Shinde and even Dr. Ambedkar did. Why were there differences between Shahu and Tilak? He remained silent in his published autobiography 'Krishna Kaath'. He avoided debates and only touched the points in the process But the main question before him was why farmers and depressed classes were kept outside the Congress. Therefore, he developed his contact outside the urban areas.
