"His active participation in the trade union activities at the grass root level was the foundation stone and the first staircase of his successful career up to the Rashtrapathi of the Rashtra (nation). Like his predecessors, in his early age, he who at the beginning reached the position of a trade union leader, courted imprisonment during the Quit India Movement with many other dedicated sons of the soil. He started his career in the Congress as an ordinary worker, and later, as an office bearer before entering Parliament. He in fact climbed all the ladders step by step before he reached the highest position."