On March 12 this year, thousands stood on the roadside to greet a group of parliamentarians, freedom fighters, socialists, academicians and Gandhi’s followers, relived the Dandi March. We were looking forward to visiting his small room in the Ashram. A small mattress, an accountant’s table and a back-rest were all in the name of furnishings in the room, and everybody was accommodated on the floor itself. This was the meeting place of some of the greatest minds of that era and this was the place that eventually brought India its freedom. What a contrast from today where the race is to occupy the plushest, biggest offices not only to demonstrate the current status of the occupant, but also suitably exaggerate it. In the morning that day, they played two of Gandhi’s favorite bhajans. The choice was fortuitous enough to entail the core message of Gandhi, one that is relevant today as much as it ever was. If ‘Vaishnav Jana’ talks of religion of humanity above all else, ‘Raghupati Raghav’ speaks of oneness of God. I couldn’t help but wonder what fortunes could come upon our communally thin-skinned society if only we could imbibe these two bhajans alone. Riches of India These are proud moments for Indian-born Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, who has risen to be just two places away from becoming the world’s richest person, currently third in the ranking published by Forbes magazine. And if his dream rise in recent years is any indication, one shouldn’t be surprised when he becomes the world’s richest in a few years. India too has earned a surprise 8th global ranking on the list of countries with maximum billionaires. To a country long derided as land of poor snake charmers, I can sense that these twin feats would warm hearts of most Indians. It seems that the skills of younger LN Mittal have simply overshadowed the spadework done by his father Mohan Lal Mittal, a 79- year- old man who is simply far too active for his age. The seeds of present day Mittal empire were sown in the 1947 partition, when a young ML Mittal was forced to leave Karachi and migrate to India, where he set up an oil-mill in small-town Hardoi in UP. When that business didn’t take off, he migrated to Kolkata and bought a rolling mill there. When that business failed too, almost a consequence of the closed economy of those days, he didn’t lose hope and dared to try his hand at running a business in a foreign company. So there he was in Indonesia, where after managing a loss-making steel plant for some time, he went on to acquire it and turned it around. This was the defining moment and thereafter, he replicated the success formula with even greater success in loss-making steel plants all over the world—Indonesia, Morocco, Trinidad and Canada have turned out to be milch cows for LN Mittal today. Today the elder Mittal is busy advising and helping his younger son, Pramod Kumar Mittal in acquisitions overseas. Pramod has already picked up and is successfully running three steel plants in Phillipines, Libya and Bosnia. If and when both brothers join hands together, they will be controlling 20% of the world’s steel market. Whie the world raises a toast to the acumen of younger Mittals, the older Mittal stands apart as the one who started it all. Hot air rises In the absence of real issues, the TDP is picking trivial issues against ruling Congress by staging dramatic parliamentary walkouts. A new Greenfield private sector airport in Hyderabad has come up under storm for nothing more serious than its name—Rajiv Gandhi International Airport—where TDP is crying hoarse and demanding it to be named after NT Rama Rao. The TDP does not remember that the new airport to come up in Hyderabad was named Rajiv Gandhi Airport through a cabinet decision in 1992, which was a recognition of the fact Hyderabad was the place where Rajiv began his aviation career. NT Rama Rao’s name was never associated with the new airport. What the TDP does remember is a 1999 cabinet decision by NDA government, changing the airport’s name to Hyderabad Airport. Also forgotten is the fact that the recent decision to name it as Rajiv Gandhi Airport has been taken by the private consortium building the airport, through a resolution passed in its board meeting, a place and matter with little say for government of India. The government merely endorsed the decision. The old Hyderabad airport will continue to be known as NT Rama Rao airport.Ironic that TDP is playing the NT Rama Rao card! TDP is precisely the party who betrayed NT Rama Rao and pulled his government down, a shock that eventually proved fatal for the weakened man. The writer is a Congress MP. He can be reached at shuklarajeev@gmail.com
