A telecom visionary

Date : July 31, 1995

 

A call was made from the office of the Chief Minister, West Bengal

Mr. Jyoti Basu: "Hello... hello...

Is it Mr. Sukhram Ji?"

From the other side,

"Yes. How are you Sir?..."

 

And after discussing formal pleasantries, both the doyens of Indian political history, complimented each other for the new revolution set up on that day, for the first time after 48 years of Independence; a revolution to bring the souls of two individuals together – the
mobile revolution.

 

"And if I remember correctly, after introduction of telecommunications through fixed landline telephones, this is most revolutionary Sir," said Sukhram to Jyoti Basu.

 

 The most modest and humblest individual of Indian politics, one with a soft natured charisma, became the "Father of the telecom revolution of India", as the history of India would always remember him. "Nobody calls me now on my mobile," emotionally regrets Sukhram, with a wet glint in his eyes, recalling the days when he had the vision to grace the image of India on an international platform. What followed thereafter, became the history which people would not like to forget, though forgetting into oblivion the esteemed fatherly figure of India's telecom history.

 

The first cellular call was made from a Nokia mobile phone on a Nokia network. It was, in fact, an occasion to inaugurate Modi Telstra's mobile net services in Calcutta. The company, a joint venture between India's Modi group and an Australian telecom giant, Telstra, was one of the eight licensed to provide cellular services. There were only 5 million subscribers in the first 5 years and the tariff was Rs 16 per minute a call. Today, we stand at 635.5 million mobile subscribers. As forecasts are concerned, India is expected to touch 1.159 billion subscriptions by the end of 2013 and the volatile telecom industry is expected to reach a size of Rs. 344,921 crores ($73.47 billion) by 2012.

 

"Everything seems gloomy now for the future," says Sukhram. "I had paved the way for two people to be connected instantaneously. The generations ahead would never realise how one had to wait for long to speak to their dear ones in an hour of emergency; and at what price. Well, times have changed since then. Wethink that poverty is only being hungry and homeless. But the most terrible poverty is loneliness – the endless wait to talk to your own. When I used to travel into the interiors of my state of Himachal, I could sense in the eyes of my people the heaviness of being alone. I used to see their forlorn wait for somebody to share their feelings with. And what could have been better than providing them with the most efficient telecom services. In fact, I could make telecom services reach even the most backward terrains of Himachal, which were most difficult to access."

 

Sukhram further recalls, "I created the industry to create jobs for millions of unemployed youth of my country, which no other sector had provided till then. People had witnessed the Green Revolution of 60s, the White Revolution of 70s and the entertainment revolution of 80s, but the youth of my country were still unemployed; and I felt sorry for them. The telecom revolution, at least, could solve a fourth of the job issues in our country at that time."

 

With the recent, mammoth, corruption scam of the millennium in the telecom sector, people have started comparing the two Rajas of the ministry, Sukhram and A. Raja. While the former, the Father of the telecom revolution in India, was the champion of the poor, who had a patriotic vision for India's economic growth, the latter put a dent to the same for his own interests, giving losses to the tune of almost Rs. 70,000 crores to India (as the CAG report puts
it across).

 

Looking back in retrospect, Sukhram or Pandit Ji (as his constituency people call him with affection), born in the small village of Kotli, in Himachal, and from a humble background, always carried a vision towards improvement in excellence. But he could never realise the irony of his life in later years, whence he had to face the jealousy and envy of his colleagues in political circles, who victimised him with the vendetta of corruption. The man with the Midas touch in his constituency of Mandi, is so revered even today that people follow him to touch the ground where he's walked, and families want to name their newborns after him. A saviour of masses of Himachal, he still shares their worries with sympathy and compassion. I still recall an incident at one of the known hospitals of Delhi, where he happened to make a visit for his medical checkup. When the Medical Superintendent came to know about him, he requested whether he could touch Pandit Ji's hands, as he had been the doctor's idol since his youth.

 

So how could the nation forget him? He was full of sorrow when he was convicted by the sessions court in Delhi; people did retort back with a reaction that even judges can make mistakes. Respected legal luminaries across the country opined that the respective judge had erroneously nailed him for political reasons without logical or legal acumen and for reasons only best known to him. And what a contrast today when even judiciary remains tight-lipped, forgetting their suo moto intervention in the present day scam.

 

The forgotten hero of Indian telecom revolution, had created a niche for expansion for one of the first corporate houses of India, the Reliance group. Sukhram recalls, "Once Dhirubhai with his sons Mukesh and Anil met me and asked me if it was worth getting into the telecom sector? I told Mr. Ambani, today you are making money from oil, that involves digging earth. This is the fieldwhere you'll make money from air." Such was the vastness of his vision that once travelling to Europe as the telecom minister, when he saw one of the passengers making a call from inside the plane, the genesis of the would-be revolution started, creating ripples in his mind that one day he would like every citizen of his country to have the world ringing in their pockets. On returning back, with his efforts, Sukhram assured enough fuel for 15 years of economic growth of his country, that it started getting recognised as a superpower.

 

And before the world could approach the future India, the honourable minister realised the potential of our brother nation in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius. He invited Currimjees, the Airtel people, to have a collaborationwith Sunil Mittal of Bharti Telecom. The world all over witnessed the joining of hands of two brother nations that are genetically related through umbilical cords. The fact was greatly acknowledged by the Hon'ble President of Mauritius, Rt. Hon. Mr. Aneerood Jugnath on December 1, 2009, at a book release function at the Mauritian High Commission, New Delhi, amongst an august gathering of diplomats, bureaucrats, and politicians. History has witnessed the biggest ever collaboration between the two nations as the fertile soil for the genesis of the superpower of the millennium. 

 

Corporate tycoons of the world no longer eye India as developing, but almost as a developed nation. It all became possible with the vision of people's Pandit Ji. And now the nation doesn't want to forget him still. Interestingly, his name figured in an interview discussion to an aspirant seeking admission to IIM Kozhikode in an examination held on April 28, 2010 – and the students spoke in only praise for their hero who made them mobile with the mobile.

 

Who else could earn such a clout of respect, admiration and affection of the entire nation... When asked, Pandit Ji felt tearful and mumbled in silence, "I have done only my duty for my country." 

 

The author's views are personal