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The Indian Institute of Science was enraged that our Vokkaligara Sangha had beat
them in starting the first such program in Bangalore, and filed a court case to stop us.
Mr. Parthasarathy knew that the case had no merit and had it summarily dismissed by
his arguments in court. He would tell us proudly how in the following year, all other
engineering colleges in Bangalore stood in line to get permission from the Karnataka
government to start computer science degree programs in their colleges! So, in a sense,
Mr. Parthasarathy played a role in Bangalore emerging as the Silicon Valley (or rather
Plateau) of India!
Mr. Parthasarathy played an important part in nurturing other educational institutions
in Bangalore. As founder president of the Bangalore Education Society (BES) in
Malleshwaram, since its inception in 1965, Mr. Parthasarathy was involved in its rapid
growth from preschool to its present pre-university status, with 1800 students. He was
also a longtime trustee of the Gandhi Sahitya Sangha. Additionally, he provided free
legal counsel to the Sri Rama Cooperative Bank in Malleshwaram for decades.

Mr. Parthasarathy had a multi-faceted personality. He was elected President of the
All-India Peace and Solidarity Organization in 1960. In 1965, he was elected President of
the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (Karnataka) and was a delegate to the World Congress
of Peace Forces in Moscow in 1973. He visited Vietnam and Cambodia on a fact-finding
commission in 1977, after their liberation from the terror regime of the Khmer Rouge.

He was also part of the Indian delegation that visited the then German Democratic
Republic (GDR). It is interesting to note that during this visit to Leipzig, he was very
impressed by the famous Leipzig Tower, on whose lines he was instrumental in getting the
landmark Vokkaligara Bhavana built, at the Corporation Circle. It must be remembered
that it was Mr. Parthasarathy alone, who had vehemently insisted on holding on to the
Sangha’s strategic piece of land where the Vokkaligara Bhavana stands today, at a time
when so many Sangha members wanted to sell the valuable land to raise funds during
the Sangha’s early lean period. Today, it is a matter of pride to all Vokkaligas to see our
Vokkaligara Bhavana standing tall in front of the Kempe Gowda Tower, in the center of
the city started by our famous forefather.
Mr. B.T. Parthasarathy will always be cherished as one of the most dedicated and
dynamic founders of the Vokkaligara Sangha’s educational institutions. He will be
remembered for his vision and service to the Sangha by future generations to come.

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