Nathji had a very different kind of relationship with the rich. He never asked them for any
sewa, but rather met them on an equal footing.
When Shri Ram Krishna Dalmia, the famed industrialist of India, had met him and asked Shri Nathji whether he could be of any service to him, Shri Nathji had said:
“Dalmia, meri sewaa itnee sasti naheen ke har ek ko dee jaaye. Ye maine apne khaas bhakton ke liye rakhi hai!
“Dalmia, not everyone can be given the chance to serve me. I have kept it in reserve for my special devotees.”
Dalmias father in Law Shri Sunder Lal Chordia was devoted to Mahaprahuji whome he met though his friend Shri Narayan Lal.
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Ramkrishna Dalmia (7 April 1893 – 26 September 1978) was a pioneer industrialist and founder of the Dalmia-Jain group or Dalmia Group and The Times Group.
Ramkrishna Dalmia was born 7 April 1893 in the small village of Chirawa in Rajasthan. He belonged to a family of vaishnava devotee. He shifted to Calcutta with his parents at an early age where he learned Bengali
When Dalmia was only about 18 years of age, his father died leaving no property. After this, the entire burden of supporting his mother, grandmother, his wife and younger brother Jaidayal fell on him. His maternal uncle, Motilal Jhunjhunwala gave him a job in his bullion business which enabled him to earn just enough to support his whole family. Later he earned himself handsome amount of money by speculation in bullion
Dalmia started a trading business in the 1930s at Dinapore near Patna in the State of Bihar.
During the time when he was staying in Dinapore, he mooted the idea of establishing a sugar factory at Bihar in Patna District. This was done under the joint management of himself and Nirmal Kumar Jain of Arrah, a well-known local Zamindar. Simultaneously he set up another sugar factory at Dehri (Dehri-on-Sone), Bihar. This place became known as Dalmianagar.
His greatest contribution was in the emergence of the Indian Cement Industry. He entered this field in the year 1936 as a challenge to the monopoly of existing firms, mainly the powerful combine of Associated Cement Company, which had till then been in complete control of the industry. Facing stiff competition from them, he set up several cement factories at different places like Dalmianagar in Bihar, Karachi in Pakistan, Charkhi Dadri in Haryana, Dandot in Punjab, Dalmiapuram in Tamil Nadu and Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan.
He went on to set up several industries like Cement, Paper, Banks, Insurance Companies, Biscuits, Aviation Companies, Railways, Collieries, Publishing and Newspapers, Textiles, Chemicals, etc. with the assistance of his lieutenants, his younger brother Jaidayal Dalmia and his son-in-law, Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain.
Later, he established the Bharat Bank with branches at many places in India. He also entered in the Aviation Business and acquired disposal goods after the Second World War. He acquired interests in the Bharat Insurance Co. Ltd. and established a Fire and General Insurance Company. He later acquired controlling interests in the Punjab National Bank and also in the Times of India publications.
At the time of India’s independence, Dalmia was among the wealthiest and most powerful men in India and maintained good relations with most political leaders, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah who sold his Delhi house to Ramkrishna Dalmia. At one point his name is said to have been considered for India’s finance minister
Shortly before independence, the Dalmia empire was divided between himself, Jaidayal Dalmia, and son-in-law Shanti Prasad Jain, who had once been a tutor to his daughter Rama. Later, when he was facing imprisonment and needed to repay 2.5 crores (25 million) rupees, he mortgaged Bennett, Coleman to Shanti Prasad Jain to raise money. In 1947, Dalmia engineered the acquisition of the media giant
Bennett, Coleman by transferring monies from a bank and an insurance
company of which he was the Chairman. In 1955, this came to the
attention of the socialist parliamentarian Feroze Gandhi who was part of
the ruling Congress party headed by his estranged father-in-law
Jawaharlal Nehru. In December 1955, he raised the matter in Parliament,
documenting extensively the various fund transfers and intermediaries
through which the acquisition had been financed. The case was
investigated by the Vivian Bose Commission of Inquiry.
In the
court case that followed, where he was represented by the leading
British attorney Sir Dingle Mackintosh Foot, he was sentenced to two
years in Tihar Jail. But for most of the jail term he managed to spend
in hospital. Upon his release his son-in-law Sahu Shanti Prasad Jain to
whom he had entrusted running of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.
rebuffed his efforts to resume command of the company.
Dalmia married six times and was the father of eighteen children. He lost his first wife, Narbada Devi, at the age of only sixteen.. Dalmia died on 26 September 1978 at the age of 85 after a prolonged illness.
