'Capital does have colour': Top quotes of Rahul Bajaj

NEW DELHI: Industrialist Rahul Bajaj, who passed away on Saturday, was know for his straight talking, even if it meant ruffling a few feathers now and then.

"Bold and fearless"- That's how banker Uday Kotak described Bajaj in his condolence message.

These quotes, some from interviews and articles published in The Times Group publications, throw light on the mettle that Rahul Bajaj was made of.

I believe in ethical business

Bajaj in an interview published in The Times of India on October 20, 2002, Bajaj said he firmly believes that God exists, but never makes a show of this belief, prays at temples or follows rituals.

"I believe in karma and the doctrine that man makes his own destiny. My karma is what will determine my future," he had said.

He accepted Vinobha Vabhe as his guru and followed his teachings, he said in the same interview.

"For me, my work is worship and my hime and workplace are my temples," he further said.

I am not a politician

Bajaj was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 2006. On being offered a chance to contest the RS election, he laid down two conditions- conbtest as an Independent candidate, and have support of all parties.

Bajaj won an RS seat even though the Congress did not back his candidature.

In an interview to TOI soon after, he announced himself to be the "representative of the corporate sector of Maharashtra."

"I am very clear I am not here (Parliament) to ask for votes," he said.

Capital does have colour

"Capital does have colour even in this era of globalisation," Bajaj had said in another interview to TOI, in January 1998.
He was responding to a question about "nationalist mood" among Indian industrialists and if capital has a "colour."

"I believe every Indian and not only every industrialist should be a nationalist. Being a nationalist does not mean a narrow parochial approach. Being a nationalist means a recognition of the fact that India and Indian industry will and should be built by Indians," he had said.

Give me a level playing field

Rahul Bajaj openly expressed his reservations about the opening up of the economy. In an interview to The Economic Times in 2006, he recalled his exchanges with a former Indian PM on the issue.

“I told Indira Gandhi that I would welcome back Vespa and Piaggio but give me a level playing field,” he told ET.

“I was raided in 1976 when I opposed the Emergency. Then, during the Janata government, I was offered a position, which I declined. I was against the Emergency and not the Congress,” he further said.

“My DNA empowers me to look for innovation in whatever I do,” he said about his entrepreneurship spirit.

I come to learn and enjoy

In a January, 2010 interview to The Economic Times, Rahul Bajaj had said that his visits to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland were "to learn and enjoy, and not doing a stroke of work" during those five days.

The WEF is the only gathering that brings together the world’s top CEOs, policy makers and heads of state, he said.

“Those who say it’s a talk shop shouldn’t come here. Because they don’t understand what it is,” he had said.

Don't have confidence that you'll appreciate criticism

In November 2019, at an event organised by the Economic Times in Mumbai where home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and commerce minister Piyush Goyal were present, Rahul Bajaj spoke about the government's 'stifling of criticism', among other things.

“This environment of fear, it's definitely on our minds. "You (the government) are doing good work; and despite that, we don't have the confidence that you'll appreciate criticism," he had said.