Jinnah’s connections with Mahindra, Wipro and Cipla

New Delhi: That was mid-1940s and those were politically extremely heady days. While Congress leaders were expecting independence from the British Raj soon and Muslim League was almost certain that their dream for a separate homeland for Indian Muslims is not very far off. In this backdrop, the company named as Mahindra and Mohammed (M&M) was created in the then Bombay by brothers K.C. Mahindra and J.C. Mahindra with Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) alumni Ghulam Mohammed. That was a steel trading company.

And Punjab and Punjabi were unifying them. While Mahindra’s were from Ludhiana, Ghulam Mohammad was from Lahore. They had big dreams for their company. Ghulam Muhammad joined the new venture after quitting the Indian Railway’s account service. That was not a small thing as people didn’t quit government jobs so easily during those days. He was a Charted Accountant as well.As the Mahindra & Mohamed was making some headway, suddenly Pakistan become a reality. That was then Mohammad Ali Jinnah asked Ghulam Mohammad to emigrate to a new country. Actually, Jinnah had offered several Muslim Industrialists to shift to Pakistan. Seth Ram Krishna Dalima was his friend too. But he was not offered any position in Pakistan by Jinnah. Jinnah even visited Dalmia Nagar in Bihar at the invitation of his friend. Dalmia had purchased his Delhi’s mansion too. Dalmia’s wife and noted Hindi author, Dinesh Nandni Dalmia, used to narrate his husband’s close friendship with Jinnah to this writer at her Sikandra Road’s house.

Jinnah had offered the Finance Minister’s portfolio to Ghulam Mohammad. Yes, the offer was tempting. Ghulam Mohammad left Bombay and Mahindra and Mohammad for Karachi to become the finance minister of a new country. As he left for Karachi, Mahindra & Mohammad became Mahindra & Mahindra in Bombay.

After the Independence of Pakistan in 1947, Ghulam Mohammad joined as the country’s first Finance Minister where he helped draft the first five-year plans to alleviate the national economy.
Following the assassination of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in 1951, he was invited to be the Governor-General by Khawaja Nazimuddin who himself took over the government as Prime Minister. But Ghulam Mohammad was very upset with the affairs in his country and died unsung in 1955.

And in India, from a steel trading enterprise, the Mahindra & Mahindra has become a 19-billion-dollar group with more than 2.50 lakh employees in over 100 countries across the globe. It is arguably among the most respected corporate houses in India. Mahindra & Mahindra Limited has a formidable presence in aerospace, aftermarket, agribusiness, automotive, components, construction equipment, consulting services, defence, energy, farm equipment, finance and insurance, industrial equipment, information technology, leisure and hospitality, logistics, real estate, retail, and two wheelers. Besides this, Mahindra Finance is India’s largest rural non-banking financial company (NBFC) and it is the world largest Tractor manufacturers.

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by Senior Journalist of Delhi and an expert on History of Delhi

and Indo-Park affairs)