Showering praise on Verghese Kurien, father of India's 'White Revolution', former chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Amrita Patel said Monday that he taught her how to face adversity with courage.
Kurien, who founded the NDDB which steered India's cooperative dairy movement, had recently come under attack from a former BJP minister for allegedly helping missionaries.
Amrita Patel was speaking at an event organised by Charutar Arogya Mandal (CAM) trust to felicitate her on her 75th birthday at Karamsad in Anand district of Gujarat.
"He (Kurien) taught us that in order to succeed, our integrity must be beyond reproach. For, those who oppose cannot successfully defeat an honest man," said Patel.
"The organisation (NDDB) faced opposition from so many quarters. But it was the quality of leadership that he provided which brought us together as a team....By example he taught us to act with courage in the face of opposition," she said.
Patel, a Padma Bhushan recipient, succeeded Kurien as chairman of the NDDB after he stepped down in 1998. She remained in the position till 2014. Kurien passed away in 2012.
Notably, former BJP minister in Gujarat Dileep Sanghani had alleged recently that Kurien donated money from the profit of dairy brand Amul to Christian missionaries for conversion activities. Kurien's daughter dismissed the claim while asserting that her father was atheist.
Patel, youngest daughter of former Union minister H M Patel, also lauded Infosys co-founder N Narayana Murthy, the chief guest at the event, for his support in running an 800-bed hospital set up by CAM.
At one point, both Patel and Murthy were members of the board of the Reserve Bank of India.
She recalled that Infosys Foundation donated Rs 5 crore to CAM after Patel, as the trust's chairman, asked him if it was possible for corporate houses to donate money to the hospital to bear the cost of treatment of the poor.
"Mr Murthy is one of the few persons I met who know how to give with grace," she said.
In his speech, Murthy said there were many such young Amritas among us.
"We have a large number of young Amritas who have that indomitable courage, that aspiration, that desire, that willingness, that commitment, spirit in service which is required to achieve even greater things than what she has achieved and what our generation has achieved," he said.
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