G. D. Birla -An Indefatigable Optimist

G.D. BIRLA - AN INDEFATIGABLE OPTIMIST

“The future is now”, was the life long philosophy of Ghanshyam Das Birla which he pursued with great conviction and determination until his very end in 1983, at the age of 89.

A remarkable visionary for India’s future, his passion to contribute his best for the socio-economic progress and well-being of his mother­land, before and after independence, is common knowledge.

It is, therefore, appropriate that we remember him on the occasion of his ninety-sixth birth anniversary day which falls on the auspicious Sri Ram Navami, in 1992.

From a very early age, G.D. Birla developed a perceptive aware­ness and clarity of thought as a result of which he was emboldened to take very big, crucial and often risky decisions which not only helped the cause of our independence movement, but also the socio-economic resurgence of the Indian nation.

To start with, let me narrate a moving incident in 1910 when G.D. Birla was only sixteen years of age. He was already carving out a career in Calcutta as a trader and broker in gunny and hessian. As a broker, he had to call on many British ‘burrasahebs’. The practice was that some benches in the waiting room were reserved for the use of Whites only. Young Ghanshyamdas’s spirit rebelled against the humili­ation involved. He decided he would have his own jute mill! The British business houses were outraged by this native impertinence. But, de­spite many hurdles they placed in his way, young Birla faced the challenge with fortitude and finally succeeded in his mission. His daring step helped in no small measure to encourage a large number of business families in Northern India, even in those difficult and troublesome days, to venture into numerous industrial undertaking and thus participate in the building of an industrial India.

Perhaps what happened soon afterwards is even more interesting. Mahatma Gandhi, who was then known as only M K Gandhi (or Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi) arrived in India from South Africa in 1915. Though only twenty one years of age at that time, G. D. Birla lost no time in getting into touch with him as if he was waiting for his arrival! At his very first meeting, at Calcutta in early 1916, he felt whole heartedly one with Gandhiji about his great mission of winning freedom for India, and decided to do his best for the cause unmindful of what might happen to his family in those perilous days of the British Raj. As a result, G. D. Birla was wholly involved in all the causes dear to Gandhiji. Their association was so close from the very beginning that, as early as in 1924, Gandhiji wrote to G. D. Birla that he regarded him as one of his mentors. Through­out their long and close association, G. D. Birla was often employed ­usually Sub Rosa and without acknowledgement --- as the Mahatma’s emissary and peripatetic fact finder! With an uncanny knowledge of the Mahatma’s mind Birla could serve as his unofficial spokesman with equal energy and tact. In his book. “IN THE SHADOW OF THE MAHATMA”, G. D. Birla himself says: “While at times I feel disappointed, I also feel I am amply compensated in having to defend Englishmen before Bapu and Bapu before Englishmen. It is a very interesting task. I would have no heart to do it but the morel discuss Bapu with Englishmen and Vice Versa, the more I believe it is a tragedy that these two big forces in the world cannot combine; I think it will be a service to the world when they do. And this conviction cheers me up”, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan have done well by bringing outthe four massive volumes of G. D. Birlas’s book: “BAPU­--A UNIQUE ASSOCIATION”. In his introduction to these volumes, Kaka Kalelkar, the well known Gandhian says: “I have always had the feeling while reading Gandhiji’s correspondence that I was taking a dip in the sacred Ganges and sipping its waters. This is an ocean which has great  historical value. When the future generations want to understand out times, then this source book would become very useful and interesting. To me, a Gandhi fan, this book has given transcendental joy”.

Apart from Gandhiji, G. D. Birla was intimately associated with other great leaders of his time like Gurudev Tagore, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, C. R. Das, Lala Lajpat Rai, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad and Rajaji.

The following letter from Prime Minister Nehru to G. D. Birla on 6th February, 1956 says “My dear Ghanshyamdasji: On the 29th January, you gave me a letter in which you told me about the gift of your family house, ‘Birla Park’ in Calcutta for the purpose of making it an industrial museum. At that time you handed to me the title deeds of this house which I passed on to Dr. Thacker. I must congratulate you and thank you for this generous gift. As you point out in your letter, your house has been connected in the past with many important events and thus has certain emotional significance. I remember going there many times to see Gandhiji and to attend meetings of committees”.

Yet another involvement of G. D. Birla which endeared him to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Birla Institute of Science and Technol­ogy, in Pilani. From early youth G. D. Birla was convinced that the path to prosperity for the Indian people could be only through the use of science and technology. Ever since he began travelling to the west in 1927 once, twice or often in a year, he could not turn a blind eye to the promise of modern industry and agriculture for the welfare of the masses. Indeed, he felt one with Nehru that the process of planning was inevitable for India’s economic progress. While his brother B. M. Birla, who was equally dynamic in the building up of big industries, worked hard on getting clearance for a giant steel unit, G. D. Birla concentrated on getting government’s clearance for an aluminum plant. Since the Nehru government had committed itself to keep steel production within the scope of the public sector, B. M. Birla was denied clearance which was a rude and serious shock to the entire Birla family. G. D. Birla devoted himself to the establishment of Hindustan Aluminium and it occupied a high place amongst the very big industrial units today. Ever since the project was taken up, G. D. Birla worked tirelessly to make it what it is today, a giant unit. He had to face crisis after crisis, too numerous to mention here. He built up his own captive power to overcome one major difficulty. He and other members of his family thus took up extremely challenging assign­ments and have been vigorously pursuing the task of establishing a very large number of industries throughout India and abroad.

A self educated person for whom learning was a continuous and life long process, G. D. Birla had an open mind and was ever receptive to new ideas and proposals.

In a period of seventy five years of his stewardship, G. D. Birla raised his family to dizzy heights of success. It stands today amongst the top industrial houses of India.

As a pioneering business and industrial father-figure of the Indian sub-continent, his prestige and authority were immense. He was the sole mouthpiece of his family. Everyone in the large and growing Birla clan felt fortified by his commanding presence. Whenever he gave any decision, irrespective of the size and nature of the issue, it was accepted as final. Respect for the man, sympathy for him in his immense labours and confidence in his judgement, wholly silenced all misgivings.

G. D. Birla’s greatness consists in his far sighted and permanent contribution to the Indian nation’s socio-economic well-being.