THE MERCHANT OF ETHICS

Trailblazing industrialist who put philanthropy over profits

Jamnalalji always focused on ‘honesty over profits, action over words and common good over personal gain’. He embodied Mahatma Gandhi’s principles to such an extent that Gandhiji ‘adopted’ him as his fifth son.

“Jamnalalji surrendered himself and all his wealth without reservation. There is hardly any activity of mine in which I did not receive his full-hearted cooperation and in which it did not prove to be of the greatest value... whenever I wrote of wealthy men becoming trustees of their wealth for the common good, I always had this ‘Merchant Prince’ principally in mind,” Mahatma Gandhi said while referring to Jamnalal Bajaj.

In 1931, Jamnalalji was successful in persuading Gandhiji to make Wardha his home. He offered his land for Gandhiji’s home (now known as Sevagram). Wardha became the centre of the freedom struggle. “To the goddess Lakshmi I pray, to grant me wisdom to carry on business with honesty and grant me prosperity in business and the good sense to utilise it for the benefit of the country and the affected people,” was his invocation.

Although Jamnalal Bajaj had great possessions, he had divested himself of the sense of proprietorship over them. He always insisted that trade and industry could not be exempted from ethics. His convictions did not let him get tempted by lucrative business propositions. He would often say, “Let losses occur if they must, but we shall not abandon truth and honesty.”

Family life and business were both blooming. Yet Jamnalalji’s favourite mantra was: “It is not kingdom I desire, nor heaven, nor release from rebirth; what I desire is the destruction of the pains of creatures scorched by suffering.”

Jamnalalji’s commitment to nationalism was total. In his fight against the British, he established the Satyagraha Ashram at Wardha, participated in the Non-cooperation Movement of 1921, the Nagpur Jhanda Satyagraha in 1923, the boycott of the Simon Commission in 1929, the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 and the anti-war campaign in 1941. He also suffered several protracted jail terms, opting for C Class prisoner status.