“…appreciation of a garden lies not with the gardener but with the observer of the many gardens I have cultivated.” – C.D. Deshmukh, The Course of My Life.
Walking down Jamshetji Tata Road in South Mumbai from Churchgate towards Mantralaya, the third round, rather nondescript, is named Deshmukh Chowk. There could be two claimants to getting it named after Chintaman Dwarakanath Deshmukh, third Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and India’s third Finance Minister.
The Head Office of the Life Insurance Corporation, Yogakshema, is the second building towards the sea. As Finance Minister, nationalising life insurance was a pet project for Deshmukh. The history page on LIC’s website makes no reference to Deshmukh. But, Deshmukh wrote:
…if the history of the first decade after India attained independence is correctly written, my name may be mentioned as … the Finance Minister of India who nationalised the Life Insurance business, when everything else is forgotten.
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