D. Devaraj Urs was born at Kallahalli Hunsur Taluk, Mysore district, the then Kingdom of Mysore. His father, also named Devaraj Urs, was a land-owner and his mother, Devira Ammanni, was a pious and traditional lady. His younger brother, Kemparaj Urs was an actor. The family belonged to the Arasu community and were very distant relatives to the Wodeyar royal family.
Urs was married to 11-year-old Chikkammanni (or Chikka Ammani), a girl from his own community and from a suitable family, in a match arranged by their parents when he was almost 15. The marriage proved to be harmonious and conventional. They had three daughters – Chandra Prabha, Nagrathna and Bharathi.
Urs had his primary and high school education at the Urs Boarding School in Mysore, which had been set up by the Maharaja of Mysore expressly to provide suitable education to the sons of the Arasu community, to equip them for higher responsibilities in their adulthood. After passing school, Urs studied at the Central College in Bengaluru and took a BSc Degree.
After completing his education, Urs returned to Kallahalli and engaged himself in agriculture, overseeing the extensive lands owned by his family. However, his innate leadership quality did not permit him to stay in the village and brought him to politics.
Urs entered politics in 1952 by contesting the first elections held in the country after it attained independence. At this time, the Maharaja was still the head of state in Mysore (until 1956), the state retained the same boundaries as before independence, and the Arasu community was entrenched in the countryside due to centuries of ties with village communities. Urs easily won a seat to the state legislature and served as a member of the legislative assembly for ten years (two successive terms). An Indian National Congress party leader from Mysore, Urs was a member of the intra-party "Syndicate" of powerful regional leaders. However, he was never as antagonistic towards Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as other leaders of the Syndicate, such as K. Kamaraj. When push came to shove, he chose to abandon the Syndicate and go with Indira Gandhi.
Urs had practically retired from politics when the first Congress split took place in 1969, and the Syndicate formed the Congress (O) ('O'for "Organization") while Indira Gandhi formed the Congress (R). The Congress (O), under S. Nijalingappa, Veerendra Patil, Ramakrishna Hegde and Deve Gowda dominated Karnataka electorally and had a majority in the state assembly, but Urs declined an invitation to join it. Instead, he agreed to lead the Congress (R) in the state and helped win all the 27 seats at the 1971 Lok Sabha elections and majority in the 1972 legislative assembly elections.[1] Under his leadership Congress(R) won 165/216 seats, thus garnering more than 75% of the seats. Congress(O) came a distant second with 24 seats. Independents won 20 seats. CPI won 3 while BJS, the earlier avatar of BJP stood second in 16 seats, winning none.[2] He was chief minister of Karnataka for the full term of the assembly from 1972 to December 1977. In January 1978, he joined Congress (I) as Mrs Gandhi split the party yet again. The new party won the assembly elections in February 1978 and Urs was appointed Chief Minister. But in 1979, he left Congress(I) following differences with Indira Gandhi, and joined the other Congress faction, Congress (S). He continued to be CM as many MLAs joined him.[3] The other Congress faction was even known as Congress (Urs) briefly when he became its president. But in the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, his party won just one seat in Karnataka. Most MLAs in his camp deserted him to re-join Congress(I) and Gundu Rao became Chief Minister in January 1980. Urs then formed the Karnataka Kranti Ranga in 1982, a few months before his death.[4]
During the Fifth Assembly of Karnataka State, D. Devaraj Urs was the Chief Minister from 20-03-1972 to 31-12-1977. President's Rule was imposed from 31-12-1977 to 28-02-1978 in the run-up to 1978 election. The Sixth Assembly lasted its five-year term, from 17 March 1978 to 8 June 1983. Devraj Urs was Chief Minister from 28-02-1978 to 07-01-1980, first with Congress(I) up to 24-June-1979, and then Congress (S) when he was expelled from Congress(I) following differences with Indira Gandhi.[5] When Mrs Gandhi swept to power in Delhi in January 1980, most of the MLAs backing him re-joined Congress(I). Devaraj Urs was ousted and succeeded by R. Gundu Rao as CM in January 1980.[3]
- 20-03-1972 to 31-12-1977. Karnataka CM (Congress)
- 28-02-1978 to July 1979. Karnataka CM (Congress (Indira))
- July 1979 to 07-January-1980. Karnataka CM (Congress(Socialist))
'ಡಿ. ದೇವರಾಜ ಅರಸ್ (೧೯೧೫ - ೧೯೮೨) ಎರಡು ಬಾರಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದ ಮೈಸೂರಿನ ರಾಜಕಾರಣಿ.
ವಿಶೇಷತೆ:- ಇವರು ಎರಡು ಬಾರಿ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿಯಾಗಿ ಕಾರ್ಯನಿರ್ವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು. ಇವರನ್ನು ಪರಿಶಿಷ್ಟ ಜಾತಿ ಮತ್ತು ಹಿಂದುಳಿದ ವರ್ಗಗಳ ಹರಿಕಾರ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯಲಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು. ಎಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಾನಿಕ್ ಸಿಟಿ ಕಟ್ಟಲು ಕಾರಣೀಭೂತರು. ಮೈಸೂರು ರಾಜ್ಯ ೧೯೭೩ ನವೆಂಬರ್ ೧ ರಂದು ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಎಂದು ಮರುನಾಮಕರಣಗೊಂಡ ಅವದಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದರು. ಅಧಿಕ ಅವಧಿ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದರು. ಇವರು ಅದಿಕಾರಾವಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹಿಂದುಳಿದ ವರ್ಗದ ಆಯೋಗವನ್ನು L G ಹಾವನೂರು ಅವರ ನೇತೃತ್ವದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಥಾಪಿಸಿದರು. ಇವರು ಭೂ ಸುಧಾರಣೆ & ಉಳುವವನೇ ಹೊಲದೊಡೆಯ ಕಾನೂನುಗಳನ್ನು ಜಾರಿಗೆ ತಂದರು. ಇವರ ಜನ್ಮ ಶತಮಾನೋತ್ಸವವನ್ನು ೨೦೧೫ ಅಕ್ಟೋಬರ್ ೨೦ ರಿಂದ ಒಂದು ವರ್ಷದ ಕಾಲ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರವು ಆಚರಿಸಿತು. ಇವರು ಮೈಸೂರು ಜಿಲ್ಲೆಯ ಹುಣುಸೂರು ತಾಲ್ಲೂಕಿನ್ ಕಲ್ಲಹಳ್ಳಿ ಗ್ರಾಮದವರಾಗಿದ್ದು, ಜನ್ಮ ಶತಮಾನೋತ್ಸವ ಆಚರಿಸುವ ಸಂದರ್ಭದಲ್ಲಿ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕ ಸರ್ಕಾರವು ಇವರು ಜನಿಸಿದ ಗ್ರಾಮವನ್ನು ದತ್ತು ಗ್ರಾಮವಾಗಿ ಸ್ವೀಕರಿಸಿತು. ಇವರ ಅಧಿಕಾರಾವಧಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಪತಿ ಆಡಳಿತವು ೨ನೇ ಬಾರಿಗೆ ಕರ್ನಾಟಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಜಾರಿಗೆ ಬಂದಿತು. ಇವರು ೧೯೭೬ ರಲ್ಲಿ ಎಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಾನಿಕ್ ಸಿಟಿ ನಿರ್ಮಾಣ ಮಾಡಲು ಶಿಲಾನ್ಯಾಸ ಮಾಡಿದರು. ಎಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಾನಿಕ್ ಸಿಟಿ ಪರಿಕಲ್ಪನೆಯು ರಾಮಕೃಷ್ಣ ಬಾಳಿಗಾ ಅವರದ್ದಾಗಿದ್ದು. ಆರ್ ಕೆ ಬಳಿಗಾ ಅವರನ್ನು ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಎಲೆಕ್ಟ್ರಾನಿಕ್ ಸಿಟಿಯ ಪಿತಾಮಹ ಎಂದು ಕರೆಯುತ್ತಾರೆ. ಭಕ್ತಿ ಯುಗದ ಪ್ರಭಾವ ಹರಿದಾಸರುಗಳ ಪ್ರವೇಶ ಕರೆದುಕೊಂಡು ಹೊಸರೂಪ ಪಡೆದಾಗ ಯಕ್ಷಗಾನವು ೨೦ನೇ ಶತಮಾನದ ಶತಮಾನದ ಉತ್ತರಾರ್ಧದಲ್ಲಿ ಬೇರೊಂದು ತಿರುವನ್ನು ಪಡೆದುಕೊಳ್ಳುವುದಕ್ಕೆ ಮಸೂದೆ ಕಾರಣವಾಯಿತು
ದಿವಂಗತ ದೇವರಾಜು ಅರಸು ಅವರ ದೂರದೃಷ್ಟಿಯ ಆಡಳಿತದ ನಿರ್ಧಾರಗಳು ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಕಾರಿ ಬದಲಾವಣೆಗೆ ನಾಂದಿಯಾದವು. ಗೇಣಿ ಶಾಸನ, ಹಾವನೂರು ಆಯೋಗದಂತಹ ಪ್ರಮುಖ ನಿರ್ಧಾರಗಳನ್ನು ಮಾಜಿ ಮುಖ್ಯಮಂತ್ರಿ ಡಿ. ದೇವರಾಜ ಅರಸು ಅವರು ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡ ಹಿನ್ನೆಲೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅದರ ಪ್ರತಿಫಲ ಇಂದಿನ ಪೀಳಿಗೆಗೆ ಆಗುತ್ತಿದೆ. ಗೇಣಿ ಹೋರಾಟದ ಅನುಷ್ಠಾನ ಆಗದಿದ್ದರೆ, ಹಿಂದುಳಿದ ವರ್ಗಗಳ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಕ್ಕಾಗಿ ಹಾವನೂರು ಆಯೋಗ ರಚಿಸದಿದ್ದರೆ ಈವರೆವಿಗೂ ಬಹುಸಂಖ್ಯಾತರಿಗೆ ನ್ಯಾಯ ಸಿಗುತ್ತಿರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಆದರೆ ದೇವರಾಜ ಅರಸು ಅವರು ತಮ್ಮ ಕಟು ನಿರ್ಧಾರದಿಂದ ಮುಂದಿನ ಪೀಳಿಗೆಯ ಬದುಕಿನ ದೂರದೃಷ್ಠಿಯಿಂದ ಕ್ರಾಂತಿಕಾರಿ ಹೆಜ್ಜೆಗಳನ್ನು ಇಟ್ಟಿದ್ದರು.
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