The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 57 : First move in the Mahabharatha War
https://www.thuglak.com/thuglak/main.php?x=curissue/ninaithu_paarkiraen_01_12_2021.php
Author : Sri S.Gurumurthy
Translator : C.Rangarajan
In 1985, the battle between Reliance owner Ambani and Indian Express owner Ramnath Goenka changed my life, the direction of IE, and the politics of this country, completely. Goenka was not only supporting Rajiv’s government but him also, despite my advice. Then, Rajiv’s was known as ‘Mr.Clean’. He was a friend of Goenka and opposing Ambani. Within a year, the entire scene turned upside down. Rajiv & Ambani became friends. Later, a big political battle between Rajiv & Goenka had started. Two reasons:
- Ambani was close to Indira. There was news that he had blackmailed Rajiv
- Ambani gave a fake letter that said Goenka was working against Rajiv
1st reason was an “Anumana” and the 2nd one was a fact. Rajiv believed that IE was working against him, arrested me in 1987, and attacked the IE. We counter-attacked him. Ambani smartly replaced him with Rajiv in that war against the IE.
Congress & Rajiv lost the 1989 elections. V.P.Singh who got separated from him in 1987 became the PM. Cho & I were differing on VP Singh and it continued until Chandrasekhar became the PM. Around that time, the RamJanmaBhoomi movement emerged in a bigger way. The first move in the Mahabharatha war was the battle between Goenka & Ambani.
Who is owner of IE?
I still remember the incidents very well. In May 1985, I was waiting for Goenka in the Express Towers guest house in Mumbai. Goenka rushed out of the elevator, dragged me to the open space. It was very hot and asked whether we can go inside and continue to talk. Goenka responded, “ Guru, my whole body is burning inside. What you have done so far is nothing. The next assignment is the biggest challenge. You have to save our honor”. I was not able to follow him. He continued, “ Can you tell who is the owner of the IE and Times of India”? I replied, “ You are the owner of the IE, and Jain group owns the TOI”. He was fuming like a volcano and screamed that he is not the owner of the paper but Ambani. He handed over a file.
It had the paper clippings from the leading dailies like IE, Financial express, Times of India, Economic times that was written in support of Reliance in its dealings with the Government. All the papers & PTI more or less were following the same theme, support Reliance.
Goenka looked extremely frustrated , “ How can IE write in support of a private company? We oppose the Government on the policy issues and how can we support the private company. Ambani has bribed the journalists at different level and made them to write in favour of him. We cannot leave him just like that”.
Everyone was afraid of Ambani; Goenka exploded
I took him inside for lunch and asked about the source of the papers. He replied, “ Nusli Wadia had invited me to his home for lunch. His wife cried. I asked for the reason and they gave these papers. Wadia is a Parsi and grandson of Jinnah”. At that time, I was not aware of Wadia.
Goenka continued, “ Ambani & Wadia are business competitors. Ambani bribed the journalists & government officials, pocketed the politicians, and runs this government. Everyone is afraid of him. Ministers are trembling. With the help of the government, he had finished off Wadia’s business. If we leave him like that then he may finish off everyone”. I was surprised to see that since both Ambani & Goenka were good friends. Goenka had been to his place one month back and got share allocation at a discounted price, a few months back. Goenka made a good profit out of that. Goenka allocated 100 shares to me. But, when he came to know the behind-the-door dealings, he erupted like Volcano. If people started interfering with the press then they became his enemies.
Stop your CA Practice
“I am getting old and cannot fight against this Rakshas. You stop the CA practice and dedicate your entire time to oppose him. Our editor John Verghese is a soft gentleman and he cannot run this campaign”, said Goenka.
I replied, “ Ramnath Ji! Ambani has penetrated our paper as well as the PTI, headed by you. If we share this in public then it may become a huge embarrassment. This is a fight between Ambani and Wadia. In the past, we, ourselves have supported Ambani. If we oppose Ambani then we may look biased and favor Wadia. It may spoil our name. The other alternative that we have is to fight the government and it will reinforce our neutrality. You have 100% faith in Rajiv, whereas, I do not have for two reasons; Rajiv’s aides like Arun Nehru are close to Ambani and in the past, both Ambani & Indira were close friends. After assuming power in 1980, Indira did accept only one private felicitation, i.e. Ambani’s. There is unconfirmed news that Ambani was managing Indira’s finance. There is a possibility that Ambani may bribe Rajiv. Ambani is shrewd and bold like you. The government may be a weak one but not Ambani”. Goenka started contemplating.
There is a price for everyone
Goenka said, “ Guru, you are correct. I remember my private conversations with Ambani. He is not an ordinary businessman and has a price for everything and everyone. In fact, he boasts that he can buy any politician. No political party has good people. Everyone is more or less corrupted. Socialism is gone. Now are the days of business people. He controls all form of government including appointment and transfer of officials. We need to hit him very hard. Let us plan for that”. Until then, Goenka was against the government and politicians. He had decided to fight against Ambani.
Pre-war preparations
I continued, “Ramnathji, I have some plans to implement before starting the war. You need to share your thoughts with people who are closer to you like Nanaji Deshmukh, Jethmalani. They should come out in our support. We need to secretly gather info about Ambani. We need to identify the genuine source that will share the info about Ambani. In short, we need to prepare a dossier and a team is needed for it. Let me make include some of my friends”. Goenka agreed to that plan and drafted Wadia to help us. Though I & Wadia were poles apart in appearance & other things, we became close. He gave some important leads and introduced me to Jamnadas Moorjani.
Jamnadas Moorjani, My Guru
Moorjani taught from A-Z about Ambani. He was a medium scale business owner. A rare honest being in the business field and patriotic to the core. For the last 15 years, he was watching how Reliance was destroying the other small business entities.
Moorjani described him as an intelligent, bold, selfish and heartless person. He gave lessons on how Ambani would think, formulate his strategies and would make his moves. This battle against Ambani was a dangerous journey for me. It brought lots of fame and helped me to gain huge experience.
