BENGALURU: There are politicians who leave behind buildings, statues and memorials. Then there are those who leave behind enduring reputations.
For lakhs of RSS and BJP workers in Karnataka, Ramachandra Gowda, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 88, belonged to the latter category. He firmly said the party worker is always more important than leaders for the party. His friends and well-wishers recall his days in the RSS and also his participation in the liberation of Goa.
Long before the Bharatiya Janata Party became Karnataka’s principal political force, Gowda was among the handful of leaders patiently laying its foundation, brick by brick. An engineer by profession, he entered public life in 1970 as one of the first three Jan Sangh corporators elected to the then Bengaluru City Corporation, alongside S Krishnamurthy and Srinivas Iyengar.
Although he hailed from one of Karnataka’s politically influential Vokkaliga communities, Gowda rarely invoked caste for political gain and quietly chose a different path — that of organisation building and public service. His admirers said he could easily have been chief minister, having been in prison during emergency with Vajpayee and Advani, who visited him on many occasions. He never misused his connections and contacts to climb the ladder.
One episode from his days as corporator lives on. When the ruling council proposed a steep revision in property tax, pushing tax assessments from around Rs 70 to nearly Rs 7,000, Gowda launched a fast-unto-death in protest. But he did not stop at opposing the move. During the many days of protest, he offered an alternative — the Self-Assessment Scheme — arguing that citizens should honestly declare their property details instead of being subjected to arbitrary powers of tax inspectors. The proposal initially met with resistance but eventually became policy.
When he contested the Graduates’ constituency election to the Legislative Council, opponents fielded another candidate with the identical name ‘Ramachandra Gowda’, in an attempt to split votes. Gowda, who had no initials before his name, turned the conspiracy into a campaign slogan. “Vote for the Ramachandra Gowda who has no initials,” he told his constituents. The message struck home. Voters were not confused, and he won comfortably. He won from this constituency multiple times.
Those who worked with him often say he entered politics not to build wealth but to build institutions. As city BJP president and later state general secretary, he became one of the party’s most respected organisers, mentoring generations of workers without seeking the limelight.
Former minister Suresh Kumar fondly recalls an incident that captured Gowda’s quiet wit. During lunch with senior leader Ananth Krishna — who though born into a vegetarian family, enjoyed non-vegetarian food — Gowda was teased about never tasting chicken or mutton. Without raising his voice, he replied, “If you have a building plan, you must build according to it. If you don’t have a plan, you can build anything.” The table fell silent, his point was made with humour rather than judgment.