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[sangkancil] Gandhi - Financial History - Part I
Gandhi - Financial History - Part I
Gandhi: Patron Saint of the Industrialist
http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/sagar/spring.1994/leah.renold.art.html
Leah Renold[ ]
During the years of the Indian independence movement, a leading Indian
industrialist, G. D. Birla, was Mahatma Gandhi's most generous financial
supporter. While Birla has been described as a devotee of Gandhi, the
relationship between the two men was more one of collaboration than of
one-sided devotion. Gandhi's campaigns were made possible by drawing from
Birla's vast financial resources while Birla benefited not only from the
social and religious prestige which his association with Gandhi brought
him, but his economic role and position as a wealthy capitalist was
strengthened and glorified. Gandhi gave his blessing to the abundant wealth
of Birla with his teaching on trusteeship, a concept which asserted the
right of the rich to accumulate and maintain wealth, as long as the wealth
was used to benefit society. Gandhi apparently borrowed the concept of
trusteeship from the writings of the American millionaire, Andrew Carnegie,
who had used trusteeship to promote capitalism over socialism.
The close relationship between Gandhi and G. D. Birla did not escape
scrutiny. B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of the untouchable castes, accused
Gandhi of pretending to support the cause of the oppressed while actually
supporting the forces of social conservatism.[40] Lord Linlithgow, the
Viceroy of India, questioned the Gandhi-Birla connection. Linlithgow, who
had blamed Gandhi for the sabotage and violence of the Quit India Movement
of 1942, had suspicions that Birla, as representing big business, was
actually the hidden hand behind the violence.[41] Investigations by the
governments of both colonial and independent India into Birla's economic
and political association with Gandhi and the Congress failed to bring
criminal indictment.[42] Nevertheless, the relationship between the two men
had consequences for the future of India and deserves attention. Gandhi and
Birla, both strong defenders of social conservatism, shared objectives that
were not brought out openly. In the shadow of Gandhi's public persona and
popular teachings, Gandhi and Birla were able to weave conservative
policies into the social, political, and economic fabric of independent India.
Ghanshyam Das Birla (1894-1983) was from a Marwari merchant family of
Pilani in Rajasthan.[43] His grandfather, Seth Shivanarain Birla, set out
for Bombay on a camel in 1862. In Bombay, Shivanarain began trading in
seeds and bullion. His only son, Baldeodas, joined him in the business at
age thirteen in 1875. The Birla's trading business thrived and the family
established an export-import business in Calcutta. In Bombay the family
moved into trading in cotton, wheat, rape-seed and silver. G. D. began his
apprenticeship in the family business at age thirteen. G. D. was sixteen
when he started his own brokerage. G. D.'s business took him into contact
with the British. He was offended by their racial arrogance. Birla wrote,
"I was not allowed to use the lift to go up to their offices nor their
benches while waiting to see them. I smarted under these insults and this
created in me a political interest."[44]
When G. D. was in his early twenties he found himself a wealthy man. World
War I had produced great profits in his trading business. He was also a
wanted man. G. D., in his frustration with the British had become involved
with the Bara Bazaar Youth League, a group that engaged in terrorist
activities against the British. Birla denies participating in terrorism,
but in 1916 he was accused of stealing a shipment of armaments. He went
into hiding for several months until friends could have the charges dropped
against him.
Birla, restored to his business, decided to steer clear of terrorism. He
would meet the British on the playing fields of business. There were
British businessmen though who did not want him to play. When the Birlas
attempted to open a jute factory in Calcutta, a British competitor started
buying up all the land adjacent to the plot on which the Birlas were to
build their factory, forcing the Birlas to move elsewhere. The Birlas were
not deterred. G. D. and his brothers prospered in the jute business, as
well as in their other enterprises. At the beginning of World War II, the
Birlas were worth $3.3 million. By the end of the war, they had holdings of
$20 million.[45] Before independence in 1947 the Birlas had 20 companies.
Today they own 175 businesses and are prominent in textiles, sugar, jute,
automobiles, bicycles, boilers, calcium carbides, industrial alcohol,
linoleum, woolens, flax, ghee, margarine, and also starch, confectionery,
banking, and insurance. The Birlas owned several newspapers including the
Hindustan Times and a large interest in radio. In the summer of 1993, the
Birla fortune was $1.5 billion.[46] G. D. Birla's political activities were
a factor in the success of the Birla empire.
G. D. Birla's association with Mahatma Gandhi began in 1915. Gandhi had
just returned to India from South Africa as a hero for championing the
rights of Indian workers. In Calcutta, where Gandhi was to make a speech,
Birla arranged a grand reception for him. Birla related his first
impressions of Gandhi:
At this first meeting he appeared rather queer .... I was rather puzzled
about him when I first saw him, and then gradually I came to know him ....
He gave us a new conception of politics. We felt him a saint as well as a
politician .... That meeting was thirty-two years ago, and since then I
have been associated with him and have been giving him such service as I
can.[47]
The service that Birla provided amounted to supplying practically every
financial need Gandhi brought to him. Gandhi had other sources of income,
including the assistance of the industrialist Jamnalal Bajaj, as well as
the accumulated donations from multitudes of poor supporters, but Birla was
the major financier. Birla's brothers also contributed to Gandhi, but
sometimes G. D.'s gifting was seen by them as an extravagance.[48] Birla
rarely refused any financial request on Gandhi's part and Gandhi's requests
were numerous. The following request from Gandhi was not atypical:
My thirst for money is simply unquenchable. I need at least Rs.
2,00,000--for khadi, untouchability and education. The dairy work makes
another Rs. 50,000. Then there is the Ashram expenditure. No work remains
unfinished for want of funds, but God gives after severe trials. This also
satisfies me. You can give as you like for whatever work you have faith
in.[49]
With Birla's beneficence Gandhi was able carry on his massive political
campaigns, as well as to maintain a semblance of poverty and simplicity in
lifestyle, while enjoying almost limitless financial resources.
While Gandhi appeared to share the living standards of the typical Indian
villager in his ashram, the annual expenditure of his ashram was 100,000
rupees,[50] a considerable sum in pre-Independence rupees. In a similar
vein, Gandhi was known for his humility in insisting on travelling by
third-class trains. To get a seat in a crowded third-class car was
difficult, so when Gandhi and his entourage travelled, the entire
third-class car, cars, and sometimes even the whole train was paid for to
ensure Gandhi's comfort.[51] When Gandhi attempted to make a symbolic
action by temporarily moving into an untouchable colony in Delhi, half the
residents were moved out before his visit and the shacks of the residents
torn down and neat little huts constructed in their place. The entrances
and windows of the huts were screened with matting, and during the length
of Gandhi's visit, were kept sprinkled with water to provide a cooling
effect. The local temple was white-washed and new brick paths were laid. In
an interview with Margaret Bourke-White, a photo-journalist for Life
magazine, one of the men in charge of Gandhi's visit, Dinanath Tiang of the
Birla Company, explained the improvements in the untouchable colony, "We
have cared for Gandhiji's comfort for the last twenty years."[52]
Gandhi put forward the illusory image of poverty and simplicity while he
was actually living very comfortably. We can only speculate whether this
image-making was political posturing on Gandhi's part or whether the
amenities were forced on him by the practicalities of operating a massive
movement. When Gandhi was questioned by the journalist Louis Fischer about
the percentage of his budget which was funded by the rich, Gandhi told him
practically all of it was, adding, "In this ashram, for instance, we could
live much more poorly than we do and spend less money. But we do not and
the money comes from our rich friends."[53] Gandhi was not oblivious to the
expense laid out for him.
We can also only speculate on whether certain statements Gandhi made were
representative of his opinions or whether they, too, could have been
political tactics. Gandhi was well known for espousing seemingly
contradictory positions. As a result it is a difficult task to decide what
Gandhi's true positions were. For example, Birla criticized Gandhi for his
public support of the Swaraj party. Birla did not care for the party due to
its violent propensities.[54] Gandhi responded:
I shall talk to you about the Swaraj party when we meet. I do not want you
to change your view because by justifying your views I seek to justify my
position as well.[55]
Apparently Gandhi had reasons for publicly seeming to support a party which
he admitted in private he was against. Similarly, Gandhi voiced radical
views against capitalism and industrialism in his public speeches and writing:
Industrialism is, I am afraid, going to be a curse for mankind ....
Industrialism depends entirely on your capacity to exploit.[56]
To change to industrialism is to court disaster ... The one great change to
make is to discard foreign cloth, and reinstate the ancient cottage
industry of handspinning. We must thus restore our ancient and healthgiving
industry if we would resist industrialism. I do not fight shy of
capitalism. I fight capitalism ... I do picture a time when the rich will
spurn to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor ....[57]
These radical positions do not seem to correspond to other elements in
Gandhi's life and thought, especially his close relationship with the
industrialists. Margaret Bourke-White, having read Gandhi's seemingly
revolutionary writings, was very puzzled to learn that for a quarter of a
century Gandhi had spent much of his time living in G. D. Birla's palatial
mansion in Delhi, where he was later assassinated.
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