As the renowned English poet John Donne (1572-1631) observed, every man’s death diminishes us. More so if the man is a great leader who has contributed to the public good and welfare of the general populace. Rahul Bajaj who passed away on January 13 at his home in Pune, was undoubtedly a great industrialist and business leader.
However even as encomiums and tributes to RB are flooding the media, for purposes of balanced assessment of this frank and fearless business leader, it’s important to note that Bajaj was a hard-knuckled, take-no-prisoners type of businessman who didn’t let morals and scruples get in his way. This was evidenced in the brusque manner in which he ousted H.K. Firodia — a brilliant engineer who built the first Bajaj Auto factory in Pune and whose family was an equal shareholder in the company — by using his political clout and getting government institutional shareholders to vote with him. Nor was he content with that. He did his very best to oust the Firodias from Bajaj Tempo in which they were equal 29 percent shareholders by persuading Mercedes Benz of Germany which held 50 percent of equity, to vote with him. But in this latter enterprise, he failed because Mercedes stood firm.
As founder-editor of Business India and Businessworld, your correspondent was an unabashed admirer of RB and wrote several cover features on Bajaj Auto which sent the company’s market capitalisation soaring, and I even developed a friendship with Bajaj. However, many years later when EducationWorld was struggling, an appeal to RB for tax deductible advertising support, was rudely refused. Typical of India Inc leaders who pay lip service to education and human capital development, RB also turned out to be a fairweather friend.
