Post Independence, Mysore was the first major state to accept the ‘Instrument of Accession’. The process of transition was smooth because of the vision of the Maharaja of Mysore—Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar, said Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, during his inaugural address at an online event to mark the birth centenary celebrations of the 25th ruler of the erstwhile Mysore kingdom, on Saturday.
Naidu hailed Wadiyar as a "democrat at heart" and recalled how the Maharaja had established a responsible government in the state by setting up the constituent assembly and an interim popular government with K.C. Reddy as the chief minister.
"Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar was truly a pioneering leader who led India’s transition to being a strong democracy, contributing greatly to the unity and integrity of the fledgling nation. His ready acceptance of the recommendations of the constituent assembly and adopting the Constitution of India speaks volumes about his national outlook," added Naidu.
Recalling the ruler as an able administrator, Naidu said Wadiyar had built a strong, self-reliant and progressive state in pre-Independence India. His encouragement to entrepreneurship led to the establishment of an industrial facility in Bengaluru by a company called Hindustan Aircraft in 1940 which later become Hindustan Aeronautics, he added.
"The magnificent Cheluvamba Mansion in Mysore was gifted to the government to start the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI). He donated generously to set up the National Tuberculosis Institute in Bangalore and the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing at Mysore. He also regularly funded the Indian Institutes of Science, Bangalore," said Naidu.
"His unparalleled patronage to arts, literature and culture earned him the name Dakshina Bhoja, and a London paper rightly described him as a voluntary one-man mission, propagating the cause of Indian culture," recalled Naidu.
"The greatest tribute we can pay to stalwarts like Wadiyar is to preserve and promote this grand cultural tradition of India of living together and working together, for the country, the world and the entire humanity,” said Naidu.