Anil Kejriwal's Story: A Testimony To Power Of Trust, Confidence, Determination
"He was to be my test case. I was to be his. Mutual trust and confidence were the only driving force," writes Jayanta Sanyal
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I first met Anil at my Office on Camac Street Calcutta as a young 30-year-old IIT Kanpur Graduate in 1983. I had just taken over as Development Commissioner Falta Export Zone 30 miles down the Hooghly River on a barren 300-acre Port Trust land at Falta remembered as the the place where Robert Clive arrived by ship on his way to Plassey.
He was an unlikely entrepreneur at a time when IIT Graduates were more likely to be looking for a Green Card than permission to set up a manufacturing unit. And that in Calcutta (It was not Kolkata yet) which was then more known for “Gheraos” and “Bandhs” than for Greenfield projects under Jyoti Basu Left Front Government.
I was a ‘never say die’ civil servant given a task that all thought was bound to fail. As two brave souls, we immediately bonded.
At a conceptual level, it was a simple Project. The export zone was a walled bonded area where the Commissioner was a single window with all statutory powers. Anil’s was a simple project of setting up a Computer Peripherals unit with imported parts and re-export after assembly. The entire operation was duty-free with permission to dispose of 25 per cent in the domestic tariff area. Operationalising it was the challenge. We decided to do it in one year!
I built the wall and flattened the factory. He set up his unit with screwdriver technology and parts from Schengen, China. He was to be my test case. I was to be his. Mutual trust and confidence were the only driving force.
The happy day arrived to everyone's disbelief. But there had to be a hitch. The Commissioner of Customs Calcutta suddenly decided that he would not allow the goods to move. A Dy. Commissioner Customs was embedded with me as I was the Commissioner of Customs for the Zone and the Calcutta Customs Commissioner had no jurisdiction in the matter. I told my Dy. Commissioner if the goods were not released by the next morning I would personally break the warehouse lock and release the goods. Calcutta Customs blinked. Anil and I shook hands. Pronob Mukherjee my Minister could not believe we had done it.
The zone took shape on its own and we both moved on in our careers to other things but Anil and I became lifelong friends. Anil moved to Hong Kong, Moscow and Singapore where he settled became a successful serial investor and promoter and I to Delhi and retired in Gurugram. We met when he visited India but he suddenly decided to hit ground in Gurugram himself. Our old associations were renewed afresh and he remembered our Falta Export Zone days and how it shaped his attitudes for the rest of his life. He treated me as his mentor and it inspired him to mentor others.
We last met as a family at Olives Restaurant Mehrauli on 28 July evening before he left for Zanzibar. He had called me and very much wanted to meet me. We met for early supper. He was full of his next project and had a happy chat with my wife and son and his family and another couple. It was a lively evening. He was planning to make his Iodine Project into a Rs. 1000 crore venture. He was going to Zanzibar to see the IIT set up there, as the Bangladesh government had given him 500 acres of land in Sylhet to set up an IIT there. He told us he was sitting with Prime Minister Hasina when the news of the Student uprising came to her. She had suppressed it and thought it was over but none could anticipate the impending doom. Anil looked tired from his travels and in need of sleep and I told him so, but none could guess that it was to be our last meeting. We dropped him at the India International Centre with his suitcase. It was our last goodbye.
It was a shock to receive Drishti’s message on 4 August late at night that Anil suffered a serious heart attack in Zanzibar. I offered to have him flown out but Events overtook him. Got the sad news of his passing on 14 August from Drishti.
I would always like to remember Anil as the young IIT graduate I first met. Through all his ups and downs (and he had many, including surviving cancer) he was full of a spirit of positivity and adventure. I asked him why he did it. He said, you taught me. He lived his life well. A Life lived to the full. He lived life in Kingsize. What more can one ask of the Almighty? God bless your soul Anil.
