“Think Big, Think Fast And Think Ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly”.
What bonds Indians together besides cricket is there admiration for the Ambani family, more specifically, the late founder of the Reliance empire, Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani. The classic rags to riches story of Dhirubhai have become mythical. ‘Tata-Birla’ has always been synonyms with wealth and power in India. Thanks to Dhirubhai’s enormous success, Tata-Birla became ‘Tata-Birla- Ambani’. Colloquially it came to be known as TBA.
Dhirubhai Ambani was an establishment- a spectacle of our times who influenced the psyche and life of millions of Indians. There have been countless articles, white papers, books, blogs and documentaries about Dhirbhai Ambani’s vision, his business acumen, his boldness, and also some criticisms of manipulating the system. A popular joke was making rounds during Dhirubhai era which started with a question: Which is the most powerful political party in India? Answer: the Reliance Party of India. Well, if you think about it, this was his flair. Dhirubhai was, after all, as much a product of his times as he was one who recognized and exploited the opportunities those times offered. He astutely understood the Indian political and bureaucratic system and navigated the power corridors to his advantage. He had a unique ability to manage the system.
Dhirubhai (and now his son, Mukesh) will always be blamed for meddling politics with business but was he really to be blamed for country’s ineffectual government and bureaucracy? I think India’s bureaucracy and political system is a level playing field for all other industrialists. They all play the system in their own capacity.
I have been an avid admirer of Dhirubhai Ambani (and Mukesh). Being an outsider to the Bombay club, his success has always drawn controversies. I won't pass any judgment on him as I will be too biased. But if you ask me, Dhirubhai was the biggest dreamer the country had since our first PM Jawaharlal Nehru. Praising Dhirubhai doesn’t mean that other industrialists during that era weren’t successful. Rahul Bajaj, RP Goenka, Ratan Tata, AV Birla, BM Khaitan to name a few, all excelled in their respective fields. But Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani was the first generation entrepreneur, with no family name to lean upon. We can’t say the same for the above great individuals.
The most important thing Dhirubhai did was that he lived his dreams. His great achievement was that he showed an aam admi (average Indian) what was possible. Coming from a moderate background, with no professional degree and no family capital, he achieved what the then establishments in conjunction with the Sahibs of New Delhi could not- he built a futuristic, lucrative, global enterprise…in India.
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