Raipur (Chhattisgarh): Hemchandra Jangde was curious to know about the contribution of his father, Reshamlal Jangde, a public figure, and his style of working through research work since he wanted to tell society about his father's achievements. Reshamlal Jangde who was a freedom fighter became a Member of Parliament (MP) when the first House was constituted in Independent India.
What prompted him to do research work on his father, Hemchandra Jangde replied, "When my father died in 2014, I was curious to know about his contributions to society. My father had tirelessly worked for the Dalits and oppressed classes at the local as well as state levels. Hence, I wanted to bring his contributions to the public domain as a Parliamentarian and also as a political figure."
Talking about the duration of his Ph.D. and how long will it take to complete the thesis, Hemchandra Jangde said that he started working on the subject in 2016, and in between, he became a member of the State Scheduled Tribes Commission. Due to social and political preoccupation, the project was hampered. "Then, I went to Delhi to collect information about my father's works and his writings from the Parliament Library, New Delhi. Besides, I consulted the Chhattisgarh Assembly secretariat. During Covid-19, I faced problems in getting access to the Parliament library. Somehow, I managed," he said.
"My father had a long political stint spanning from 1950 to 1991 and he became MP four times. Hence, it was a challenging task to collect all the information about him in such a short duration," he added.
What difference does he find in the yesteryears' politicians and those belonging to the present generation, to which Hemchandra Jangde, said, "My father worked selflessly for the people? He showed genuine concern for poor and needy people without expecting anything from them. But, nowadays, people have become selfish and they don't show concern for society."
