The cross-fertilization of the ideas of the intellectual and the experience of the party worker is bound to be fruitful for both. It is true that intellectuals are associated with the administration at the Union level or, in some cases, at the State level. But this association is most of the nature of experts advising policy-makers or administrators, and has little educative significance for any one concerned. What is suggested here is a partnership, a camaraderie, between political workers and leading members of the intelligentsia at each level. My own experience is that such association is enthusiastically welcomed by both sides, especially at the district level, without any ulterior motives or expectations. The grain is ripe; what is needed is a farmer of vision who will call in his team and reap the harvest.
In Yeshwantrao Chavan such a husbandman seems to have appeared. Coming from the rural masses, he understands their needs and can share their dreams. At the same time. unlike romantic idealists from aristrocratic families whose understanding of the masses came out of the Marxist scripture, he also knows their weaknesses and would not idealize them beyond recognition. His vision shows a quality of practical idealism, which is generally difficult to find in intellectuals or men of affairs. Maybe this is to some extent due to the opportunity he had during his youth of associating with some of the finest minds of Maharashtra. However, the credit would mainly go to him, for his own habit cultivated during his period of apprenticeship and then of one of the most formidable crises in his career—of looking at local issues from a wider viewpoint, and of seeking to derive the " philosopher's satisfaction " from political victories.
However, his real work has only just begun. For one great leader by himself can build up an empire : he cannot build up a democracy unless his vision is shared and his values are cherished by others, especially by his co-workers in the party and in the administration. In the last resort, education is the only means of enabling them to do this and to join him as partners in the great understanding that building up a democracy is. His public pronouncements and some of the actions of his Government and his party show unmistakably that Chavan has full realization of this. The wisdom and moral courage he has shown during the last four years and odd give reason to believe that, given time and co-operation from his party, he can accomplish this task and blaze a trail in our national life which others, perhaps greater and better placed than he, have failed to do.
