As respected Jyoti Babu is approaching the end of his innings, there will be many commentaries and critical reviews of his times and his works. At this juncture, I would like to present a vignette which depicts his capability to think out of the box of past ideologies and action, and be reformist.
Through the 1950s and 1960s the Jay Engineering Works Ltd (JEW), and more particularly the USHA sewing machine factory, was an iconic private industry in West Bengal. In the early 1960s serious problems between organised labour and the management erupted, causing endless difficulties for the company and setting the mood for strained relationships for decades. The end result of this was that by the 1990s, JEW, despite having a star-studded board of directors, had become a seriously sick company. The then chairman found it difficult to manage within the boundaries set by a parlous state of finances and an intractable labour-management condition, despite very high levels of access at political and administrative levels across the state of West Bengal and India. It became clear that JEW, the owner of the iconic brand of USHA for sewing machines and fans and a host of other products, would be extremely seriously affected.
The task of managing this company and nursing it back to health was offered to me.
In a prior association with the company, one had been able to ascertain that the problems of JEW could be overcome by recognising the clear economic deficiency in JEW, where the cost of manufacturing sewing machines was far in excess of what could be procured from cluster manufacturers of sewing machines at Ludhiana. Secondly, if sourcing was to be from Ludhiana, the workforce at JEW in Kolkata had to be rationalised 100 per cent. The third reality was that financing for the consequential VRS and repayment to the State Bank of India (which had borne the brunt of the losses), plus some essential but neglected capital investment, could only be done by the sale of the land at Prince Anwar Shah Road, on which the sewing machines factory stood.
I responded to the offer by stating that I would need a meeting with Jyoti Babu before I gave my answer.
The request for a meeting with Jyoti Babu was granted almost immediately. The substance of my meeting with Jyoti Babu was frank and forthright. He listened with great courtesy, and even affection, at my oral dissertation to him, which is basically summed up as follows:
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- JEW was grievously sick and was a fit case for being wound up.
- JEW could be saved if the sewing machine factory was closed down and the land sold to settle bankers’ debts and the VRS payout to the workmen.
- All of this to be achieved by every union concerned and the West Bengal government, being a party to and a signatory to this decision, to be arrived at through the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).
- The above issues were critical for the survival of JEW as a going concern. If the basis of a going concern status was affirmed, there would be no difficulty in continuing manufacturing operations at USHA’s fan factory, also in Kolkata.
Jyoti Babu, the eminent Chief Minister, queried me gently (‘gently’ is very relevant because he was looking at me with an avuncular, almost paternal, eye and was trying to judge my capability and character) and remarked that the egg should not be allowed to kill the hen.
He then fell silent for a few moments and then said, “Young man, even though I respect your father greatly, for some reason I could never get down to doing business with him. (Incidentally, my father Charat Ram mirrored this sentiment about Jyoti Basu). However, I do believe that what you are saying can be achieved and I am giving you my consent to go ahead and I will back you to the hilt. Of course I will need to keep my government and my party abreast of events. But, if your intention as stated is kept sight of, you will succeed.”
I thanked him very much for his kind assurance and also for the time that he had so courteously spent with me. He then asked me something for which I was completely unprepared.
He said, “Would you like my written assurance on what I have said to you?” I told him that his words were good enough for me and that I would accept the job and proceed to craft the relevant schemes while keeping the entire workforce, the unions, the West Bengal government, the bankers and the BIFR comprehensively engaged.
He reviewed the progress with me from time to time and encouraged me, obviously because he saw that commitments were being kept.
In the end a historic document was signed by all the four JEW unions — Jay Engineering Works Union (CITU), Jay Engineering Works National Employees Union (INTUC), Jay Engineering Works Limited Majdoor Union (AICCTU), Jay Engineering Sharmik Karamchari Union (AITUC), the West Bengal government and the JEW. The sewing machine factory was closed, the land was sold, (albeit five years later) a one-time settlement with the State Bank of India achieved and the VRS for employees completed. JEW emerged out of BIFR and was merged with Usha International.
Subsequently, during an election, I offered him some meagre help and he responded by saying, “I don’t need your help in the elections, young man; I need your help in reviving the JEW, a true jewel of West Bengal and in setting up more industries here.”
In reminiscing, one recalls the anger one felt at him because of the treatment meted out to my uncle, Mr Dharam Vira, who was attacked by the unruly MLAs of Jyoti Babu’s party on the floor of the Assembly while delivering the Governor’s address at the commencement of the session in the early days of the CPM + Left Front’s assumption of power in West Bengal. Subsequently, my personal interactions with him have been so warm, mutually respectful and friendly that I am sorry to see him fade away without having achieved the great promise for India that one feels is always inherent in the bosom of the left parties.