Remembering a Legend

Remembering a Legend

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, November 21, 2011: Today is the 109th Birth Anniversary of Ullal Srinivas Mallya (1902 – 1965), famously known as the ‘Architect of Modern Dakshina Kannada’. A freedom fighter and later a powerful Congress leader, it was Ullal Srinivas Mallya’s relentless lobbying that laid the blueprint for DK’s future, bringing in its wake, major institutions and infrastructure like Mangalore Airport, New Mangalore Port, National Institute of Technology and National Highway 17 among others.

Jawaharlal Nehru to whom he was very close to, as also most other north Indians mispronounced his name as ‘Malliah’. When Nehru landed his aircraft at Bajpe to inaugurate the airport, Mallya took him out in an open Jeep to Nehru Maidan to address the forthcoming election campaign. Nehru thanked Mallya for this show of affection by verbally abusing him as he was furious that his spotlessly clean white kurtha-pyjama got soiled from the dust raised along the muddy roads.

Unfortunately Mallya is a forgotten hero today, only occasionally remembered when guilt prods us or when it is convenient to do so. Even the Congress party, whose poster boy he was for the 19 years he served as an MP, seems to have forgotten his birthday.

So as a tribute to this visionary, we reproduce here a profile of this great leader from Mangalore Today Archives.

- Editor, Mangalore Today


The Hero Long Forgotten
By Bharathi Shevgoor
It was the 1920’s. The setting was the house of a government employee in Bombay. It was a time when the freedom struggle had gathered strength and young men and  women, fired with the vision of freeing their motherland from the clutches of the ‘phirangis’, had jumped into the fray of the various movements associated with the freedom struggle. They were a source of concern, nay, a headache for the police force because the latter were hard pressed to track them down.

On the particular day in 1920, the CID in Bombay were on a mission to track down a youngster who was wanted by the police for active participation in the freedom struggle. Their investigations lead them to the house of a GSB (Gauda Saraswat Brahmin), who was a government employee. They had information that the youngster they were seeking was in hiding in the house. Their problem was that they did not have any clue about his appearance.

 

Mallya (second from right) accompanying Prime Minister Nehru on his visit to Mangalore

When they entered the house, a slim youth in his twenties, wearing a thin country towel around his waist was sweeping the floor. He welcomed the CID personnel, requested them to be seated and went inside. When none appeared for a long time they looked about them and upon enquiry they were furious to know that the youth was the one whom they had come to arrest. But he had already given them the slip. He had quietly slipped out of the backdoor and melted into the shadows.
The youth was man who was later to be known as the ‘architect of Dakshina Kannada district’ - Ullal Srinivas Mallya.

This article is a humble attempt to unravel the personality or at least present the achievements of this remarkable man. The qualities of courage, generosity and strength of character coupled with a strong ethical base and principled life style which characterised the man are enough to make every person of this district feel proud to claim him as their own.

Born in a conservative, god fearing and tradition bound GSB family in  Mangalore (the ‘Ullal Mallyas’), young Srinivas did his primary education at St. Aloysius Primary School upto the 8th standard. He completed his high school - 9th and 10th standard - at Canara School, Mangalore and continued his intermediate studies at Govt. College,  Mangalore. But it was not academics that interested him, rather it was the on going struggle for independence that caught his fancy. At the tender age of 18, Srinivas Mallya’s restive spirit reached out to Gandhi’s call for joining the freedom movement. What made the young Srinivas give up a life of ease, where he simply needed to lend a helping hand in the already flourishing family wholesale business in Bunder in Mangalore and opt to undergo the strenuous life of a Satyagrahi, go underground, court or evade arrest as the need may be and generally give up the comforts of a carefree existence? Perhaps it was a sound value base that Srinivas Mallya possessed that gave him the strength to turn his back towards material gains and step into an uncertain difficult world, that too at such a tender age.

Yet one can gauge the intellect and qualities of enterprise and innovation in Mallya when one understands that Mallya befriended and held beneficial interactions with several top Congress leaders even when in jail. In other words he did not let go of the opportunity. He became a member of the Congress party. His native intelligence, integrity, principled outlook and most of all his tenacity to keep at a task till its completion saw him rising swiftly in the higher echelons of the Congress party.

 

Mallya making a point with Congress leader Kamaraj Nadar

From being the secretary of the South Kanara District Congress Committee, to a member of the State Congress Committee, to a member of the All India Congress Committee seemed as a natural course of action to this intelligent and dedicated young man. He did have his patrons in the Congress of course and they were not ordinary people either. Jawaharlal Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya (also a Mangalorean) were a few of his well wishers who supported his ascent in the party hierarchy. In the Mysore Pradesh Congress Committee, he was known by the name ‘King Maker’ - a testimony to his adroitness in managing people perhaps? In the years between 1937 and 1946, Mallya was the source of immense support to the Congress Party volunteers and members through his philanthropic pursuits of donations and other financial assistance.

The causes that he chose to espouse and court jail for were as diverse as the man’s qualities themselves. At one end was his   patriotic fervour which made him root for khadi and cottage industries in response to the man with the charaka. Then there was his social awareness that made his blood boil at the thought of the barbaric practice of  ‘untouchability’ practised by the Hindus of the land. Courting arrest for these causes and supporting the movements became an obsession with Mallya, an obsession that he pledged to cater to by putting his heart and soul into it.

It was the year 1946. Freedom was imminent. The British government named  Nehru as prime minister of the interim government. It was Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya who suggested Srinivas Mallya’s name for the Delhi House of Representatives. It was thus that Mallya first became a member of the Lok Sabha.
The  union jack was lowered at mid night   on 14 August 1947. The Indian tricolour now needed the support of its own constitution. Mallya’s political activism saw him being appointed to the Constituent Assembly. This indeed was a singular honour bestowed upon this rather quite and homely man. He had the privilege of associating with the president of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, Nehru, Vallabhai Patel, Maulana Azad and of course Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar.

As if these achievements by themselves were not enough, Mallya was appointed general secretary to the All India Congress Party in 1951, a post he shared with none other than former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. It was the then Congress president Pandit Nehru who extended this honour to Mallya. How many politicians would have given their right hand, and left eye too perhaps, to be in Mallya’s place. What was most wonderful about the man was, however, the fact that he did not ‘play politics’ to get there. It was not a plum post which ensured that the person in the ‘gaddi’ was made for life, as it is understood in these highly unprincipled times. For Mallya it was only a another opportunity to serve the nation. One wonders how many politicians can lay claim to such simplicity these days.

Mallya’s became a household name in Karnataka due to this posting in the party. It goes to Mallya’s credit that he handled his responsibilities with efficiency and ease. His non-corruptible persona provided him the courage to be assertive and firm and deal with dexterity the pleas of the thousands of ticket seekers in the Congress party, this at a time when even a ‘lamppost’ would have won on a Congress ticket.

Mallya’s ascent in the party was swift. He became the ‘Chief Whip’ of the party in the Lok Sabha - indeed the only Mangalorean to be granted the honour. It is said that his tenure of 18 years as parliamentarian did not mark him out to be an articulate person. Indeed mallya was a man of  few words. He would sit back and listen intently, perhaps ruing the waste of time and nation’s money in the House of Representatives, caused by the verbosity and thoughtlessness of the ‘Speakers’ during the debates. Mallya was thrice elected from the Udupi Lok Sabha Constituency in 1952, 1957 and 1962. He headed the House Committee in the Lok Sabha. He was also member of All India Handicrafts Commission from 1952. It was as if he had pledged to live his life in service of his countrymen. The handicrafts industry definitely benefited from Mallya’s interventions.

When in Mangalore you would have perhaps sauntered down NH 17 or even NH 42, admired the scenery from the Ullal Bridge on the Nethravathi, paid a visit to the Panambur harbour, wondered at the working of the Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers project, listened to the sonorous voice of the announcers of ‘Akashvani Mangalore’, secretly desired to send your children to study at the Karnataka Regional Engineering College, Surathkal (now NITK), even managed to stay at the Circuit House, attended a programme at the beautiful Town Hall and after having your fill of the sights and sounds of Mangalore, said goodbye to your friends or relatives at the Bajpe airport.

What would you say if you were informed that the architect of all the above mentioned roads, bridges, factory, radio station, regional engineering college, airport and other  landmarks of our city called Mangalore in Karnataka state in our country, was one Ullal Srinivas Mallya? How could this be possible? You may ask. Mallya showed that multi faceted achievement is possible, even in the field of politics.

An extraordinary man. But which was the true, the innermost Mallya? The shrewd manager of men? The homespun philosopher? The visionary? The revolutionary? The canny businessman? The philanthropist? Was it possible that one man could be all of these?

Srinivas Mallya obviously was. In 45 years of fruitful public life he was the candle which burned bright to enlighten the lives of  others around.

On the occasion of his birth centenary the entire district stands up as one to applaud a son of its soil, a son perhaps, who gave back to the mother much more than any other sons did. Bravo!

Pictures Courtesy: Basty Vaman Shenoy