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Politics at IIT-B Room 166

By on May 07, 2019

Brimming with ideas, Manohar Parrikar dreamed of joining politics as a student in IIT-Bombay, shares classmate Amol Gokhale

The common man’s minister Manohar Parrikar was an alumnus of IIT Bombay. He studied B. Tech. (MET) from 1973-80 at the famed institute and was loved by all on campus. His classmate for years and now professor at IIT-B, Amol Gokhale remembers him as a student who was always inclined towards politics.

In an exclusive interview with Zee News, Prof. Gokhale said, “I spent 1973 to 1978 with him. I lived in hostel 7, he in hostel 4. Parrikar’s canvas was much bigger than IIT, and after Emergency in 1975, his desire to join politics became even more determined. He organised the political meetings on campus during that time, even a meeting with Subramanyam Swamiji.”

In hostel no. 4 of IIT-B, Parrikar dreamed of joining politics. As a student, he fought against management for the salary of mess employees, reminisced Gokhale. In 2017, Parrikar addressed the 55th convocation of the Mumbai-based institute where he told the graduates to take up jobs in social and development sectors.

He also asked students to join politics and the Army, said a former IIT-B student present at the convocation .

“Why can’t IIT graduates, who have had the best engineering education in the country, take up academics and run some of these colleges, and transform their quality?” Parrikar had then said.

The institute in its condolence message said Parrikar’s demise came as a shock to them. “He was the institute’s distinguished alumnus and keenly involved with many initiatives at IIT Bombay. He was also deeply involved with the launch of IIT Goa,” it said. On Alumni Day in 2014, IIT-B felicitated Parrikar, who graduated in metallurgical engineering from the institute in 1978, in recognition of his contribution to the development of the country.

Following his death, the institute held a condolence meet to pay tributes to their alumnus who died after a long illness.