was one of the very few Indians supporting the Dunkel Proposals. He strongly advocated free economy and freedom of individual. He revived Swatantra Party, formed by C. Rajagopalachari in 1959. Vajpayee made him head of the Agriculture Task Force in New Delhi and he was also a member of the Rajya Sabha for six years. He wrote regularly for Buisiness Times, Business India, Business Line belonging to The Hindu group. The urban-centric and largely antiliberalisation media of the eighties usually relegated the news of his meetings, generally attended by over a lakh or two of farmers in rural area, to the second or third page while the front page headlines were gobbled up by others with far less mass base. I first met Sharad Joshi in 1999 when Antarnad monthly, which I edited and published from Pune, brought out a special issue on The Role of Social Work in Contemporary Society. Joshi’s long article in it under the title “Stop this humbug of social work” was quite controversial but it raised some pertinent points and we started meeting often after that. More we interacted, the more I realized what an extraordinary life he had lived. Ten years later, when Joshi entered his seventy fifth year, Antarnad brought out a special issue on him. It was launched at a public function in Pune, which concluded with his open interview. Joshi used to be somewhat sombre in those days. His last sentence of this interview was a line from an old song: “This is my private hell. But I must tell you, I am so proud of my private hell.” Everyone in that jam-packed hall was moved by the interview. It was then that I decided to pen down his biography. Soon I realized it was easier said than done. For one thing, at some low moment, Joshi had burnt most of his personal papers. Even otherwise the long period of eighteen years of his life, from 1958 to 1976 was like a dark tunnel. This included ten years with Indian Postal Service and eight years in Switzerland. Sharad Joshi : Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage
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