By Rohit More 
After completing my MBA in Marketing, I received a job offer from a pharmaceutical company in Mumbai. When the question of accommodation in Mumbai arose, my elder brother suggested staying at Nagnath Anna’s room in the MLA residence near Churchgate. My father and Anna shared a deep bond of friendship.
Room No. 125 on the third or fourth floor of the MLA residence, where Anna stayed, was always filled with workers from our region who had come to Mumbai for work. Madan Waghmare managed the arrangements there. Every day, new people from the Walwa area would arrive in Mumbai for work, and Anna would provide them with a letter to arrange their stay in the MLA residence. The two-room suite, No. 125, was always packed with people sleeping here and there.
One night, around 1:30 AM, the doorbell rang. I was the only one awake as I had a habit of reading late into the night. When I opened the door, Anna was standing there—dressed in a three-button folded-sleeve shirt and dhoti, his face glowing with a cheerful smile. I turned inside to call Madan Waghmare, but Anna signaled me to stay quiet by placing a finger on his lips. He peered inside the room to assess the situation. There wasn’t even a tiny spot left for him to sleep, and the various sounds of snoring had reached their peak.
Anna picked up a newspaper from the table, gestured for me to go to sleep, pushed the door shut, and left. About 15–20 minutes later, I opened the door to see where Anna had gone, and I was left in utter shock.
A true patriot who dedicated every breath to his country and his underprivileged fellow countrymen, a man who filled the pages of history with his heroic deeds—the revolutionary leader Nagnath Anna Nayakwadi—was lying asleep like an innocent child in the corridor outside his reserved suite, using a newspaper as a mat and his own hand as a pillow.
Is it possible to find such a selfless people’s representative today—someone who cared so much about his fellow workers’ sleep that he chose to sleep outside instead of disturbing them?
Anna, who risked his life fighting in the 1948 struggle, dedicated himself to turning the attained independence into good governance until his last breath. He lived his entire life in the porch of Hutatma Kisan Ahir School, sleeping on a simple mat and blanket. For six years, he camped in Delhi to establish a sugar factory in Walwa village. In 1972, a major meeting was held in Walwa under the leadership of Krantisinh Nana Patil to establish the factory. Despite multiple visits to Delhi, the government remained unresponsive. Realizing this, Anna declared that he would not leave Delhi without obtaining the factory’s license.
During those six years, three governments changed, but Anna remained steadfast. In 1986, he finally got the factory approved, and he introduced the revolutionary ‘Hutatma Pattern’ to the world of cooperative sugar factories.
This factory provided the best sugar extraction rates, ensured good prices for farmers, paid workers well, and even offered meals for just two rupees to every visitor. Until the factory was built, Anna stayed on-site, monitoring everything day and night. However, the day the factory began operations, he never set foot inside again. He even refused to take factory membership.
Farm laborers and sugarcane-cutting workers were provided with battery-powered sweaters and ear caps. At the time, bullock carts with tires had been introduced for sugarcane transport, but they frequently got punctured in the fields. Anna set up a special service to fix them, where a jeep equipped for puncture repair would arrive within minutes when called by a cart driver.
Every Friday and Tuesday, Anna observed a vow of silence. January 30, 1948, the day Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated, and February 25, 1946, the day his two comrades, Kisan Ahir and Nanaksingh, attained martyrdom fighting the British in the Sonawade jungle—Anna commemorated these two dates for his entire life. He would never cross the boundary of any village, make any major decisions, or speak on these days, likely reflecting on the unfulfilled work of these great souls and shaping his own path accordingly.
Nagnath Anna’s sacrifices, his struggles post-independence for issues like the Atpadi water conference, the problems of Koyna-Chandoli dam-affected people, the literary movement for rural Dalits and tribals, and his fights to revoke oppressive taxes and conditions—all these will never be forgotten by the hardworking people of this land or by history itself. His vision, leadership, and dedication were truly extraordinary.
In 2008, I had the privilege of having my small new office for my advertising agency ‘Chaturang’ inaugurated by Anna. That event, filled with discussions between Anna, Principal P.B. Patil, and my elder brother, freedom fighter Namdev Karadkar, remains an unforgettable memory.
Looking back, I wonder—will we ever see such great men again?
- Mahesh Karadkar
Published in Lokmat Monday Special
Column: “This Too Exists!”
Publication Date: February 3, 2025