Marwari men, money & matters

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The irrepressible Sarojini Naidu once told Gandhiji-Bapu,if only you knew what it costs the country to keep you in poverty! <br /><br />Now, we have a clearer picture. B R Nanda''s ''In Gandhi''s Foot-steps: The Life and Times of Jamnalal Bajaj'', Medha Kudaisya''s ''The Life and Times of G D Birla'' and Neelima Dalmia Adhar''s ''Father Dearest: The Life and Times of RK Dalmia'', shed new light on the close links, financial and oth-erwise, that existed between the Indian industrialists and politics.<br /><br />Today, this nexus might even be called "crony capitalism", but that would be grossly unfair to our founding fathers,men of highest integrity and rectitude.It would also be unfair to the businessmen themselves whose support to the Congress before independence was motivated very heavily by altruis-tic instincts as "contributions" to nation-building.<br /><br />Reading these books in today''s context would also lead to the conclusion that Indian businessmen like Birla and Dalmia were ardent advocates of Hindu communalism as well,what with their generous underwriting of temple construction, of printing presses churning out religious literature and of cow protection campaigns, to give just three examples.<br /><br />Apart from Gandhiji himself, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya was a great favourite of businessmen of those times and Kudaisya details the intimate relationship of the Birlas to this venerable founder of the Hindu Mahasabha and of the Banaras Hindu University.<br /><br />Malaviya is seen to be Hindu revivalist.But it was Malaviya who once wrote in his newspaper Abhyudaya: "India is not a country of the Hindus only. It is a country of the Muslims, the Christians and the Parsees too.<br /><br />The country can gain strength and develop itself only when the people of different communities of India live in mutual goodwill and harmony.Those who disrupt this unity are enemies of their country and their community alike." Could there be a more elo-quent statement on Indian secu-larism than this? <br /><br />Adhar alludes to the unusually warm friendship between Jinnah (and his sister Fatima) and Dalmia — a most unlikely duo to find mutual common ground. Jinnah is demonised in this country.<br /><br />How many will remember that in 1916 Sarojini Naidu hailed him as the ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity? And that three days before Pakistan formally appeared on the world''s map, speaking to its constituent assembly, Jinnah had declared: "...in the course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims,not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state".<br /><br />This is as fine a definition of secularism as any. And in one of those typically sub-continental ironies, Jinnah''s only grandson, a prominent industrialist of Mumbai, is very much part of the RSS/BJP circuit.<br /><br />For long, business has been a dirty word here. True, historically government policy has encouraged dishonesty.The tax system still does. On the other hand,we continue to have policies in the name of protecting labour that have resulted in a situation where you have sick industry but no sick industrialists. In the past,the shenanigans of Indian capitalists led to the "every time I see an Indian businessman, my socialist instincts come out" syndrome.<br /><br />For instance, Dalmia''s own actions hastened the nationalisation of the insurance industry in 1956. But this is fast changing. Indian businesses are in the midst of a profound sociological trans-formation.<br /><br />There is a fresh new generation deeply conscious of both corporate responsibilities and social imperatives. This will accelerate with greater competition and globalisation, as well as with market-friendly regulation.<br /><br />Government is getting out of business and that is good. But now business has to get out of government and that can happen when more transparent systems of financing of political parties are put in place.<br /><br /><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">kautilya.jairam@indiatimes.com</span></div> </div>