Sonu Bhasin’s Entrepreneurs Who Built India: Ramkrishna Dalmia follows the rise of the man who turned the Dalmia name into a household one. Ramkrishna Dalmia, the founder of Dalmia Industries, was a humble speculator who began life in the commodities market in Calcutta (now Kolkata), setting a new benchmark in all the businesses he touched. He was a man with a Midas touch whose vast empire included sugar, cement, banks, insurance, aviation, cargo, biscuits, dairy products, and newspapers. A man of modest means, he founded the third-largest business group of undivided India. He had ‘come from nowhere,’ blessed with a razor-sharp mind, which had been sharpened on the whetstone of our bullion market.
The fact remains that he was friends with his neighbour, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Yet no two men could have been more opposite. Jinnah loved: “Lavish meals, expensive Cuban cigars, Bordeaux wines, and preferred wearing Italian suits. In contrast was a man who abhorred the killing of animals for food. Deeply religious, he lived according to Vedic principles, wore only khadi, and lived a simple life.” While Jinnah was a monogamist, Dalmia had four wives and eighteen children. They met regularly, as he tried to broker peace between the Congress leaders and his close friend, who was hell bent on creating Pakistan. “Partition took place, and people on both sides were brutally killed.”
His battered relationship with Jawaharlal Nehru became even more stilted after he heard that the Congress leader (whom he had earlier helped generously during the Indian National Movement) had become the Prime Minister and said, “Dalmia is an ugly man with an ugly face and an ugly mind and heart. Just because he owns a few newspapers, he claims to be an expert on foreign affairs?”
It was the unkind barbs about his looks that hurt most. His relentless criticism of left-leaning policies of the government in The Times of India caused concern in the government circles.
Later in the summer of 1948, without fanfare, a family conclave was called at Sahu-Jain Estate in Mussoorie. “Without any legal paperwork or public announcement, the Dalmia-Jain Group split quietly without any controversy. Dalmia kept control over Bharat Bank, Bharat Insurance, the Times of India Group, and a few smaller businesses.” The rest were divided between Shanti Prasad and Jai Dayal, with minor tinkering.
The criticism of the Congress’s policy led to a bitter feud between Dalmia and Nehru. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the purchase of Jinnah’s Delhi home. It gave the Congress a way to silence criticism. They accused him of diverting funds from Bharat Insurance. And Dalmia was jailed for two years. Nehru had managed to buy temporary peace with the media. Whilst License Raj had replaced the British Raj. And, the rest, as they say, is history.