The original Ratna of Bharat
"Our dreams have to be bigger, our ambitions higher, our commitment deeper and our efforts greater. This is my dream for
Most of us have heard such words from National leaders, Prime Ministers and politicians. We have seldom believed them as more often than not they have not delivered on their promises. The truth is since 1947 we have seldom seen anything tangible from our politicians and leaders. The topic in national politics today is awarding of the Bharat Ratna and a lot of names are in the fray, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, MF Hussain, Babu Jagjeevan Ram, Kanshi Ram and the list is endless. Today dear toastmasters and guests I take this opportunity to salute the original Ratna of Bharat, a true son of the soil Dhirrajlal Hirachanda Ambani fondly called as Dhirubhai.
Dhirubhai was born in
At the age of 16 he left
Dhirubhai returned to
Dhirubhai by sheer determination and manipulation broke through these cartels to establish Reliance as major player in textiles but then the retailers refused to stock reliance cloth and if they did so it would be at a very low margin this was believed to be because of the pressure exerted by Nusli Wadia and Bombay Dyeing. Dhirubhai then did something that has become the stuff legends are made of in one day he opened 100 ‘Vimal’ retail outlets, such a feat had never been seen before in India and it took all the commercial establishments by surprise who started stocking Vimal just to dissuade Dhirubhai from opening an outlet in their neighborhood.
He had a vision for
Dhirubhai got one of the best manufacturing units built and believed his men blindly. Once a unit that had been flooded due to monsoons and experts from Du-Pont had come down to help Reliance re-start the factory. They had said that the situation was so bad that it would take about 18 months for the factory to be fully functional. Dhirubhai then called the factory manager and told him what the experts had told him. The factory manager told Dhirubhai give me 6 months and the resources I will get it done and requested him to send the experts away as they were lowering the morale of the workers with their findings. Dhirubhai agreed and within 4 months the factory was running at full capacity.
So what I ask today is for us to think and decide. Should not the Bharat Ratna our highest civilian honor be given to such a individual, the one who started the concept of IPO’s, Retail formats, World class manufacturing units. The one person, who was willing to share his profits with the common man, Let us ask ourselves this question does not this man deserve the Bharat Ratna more than the politicians and painters? Ladies and gentlemen the Bharat Ratna for the original Ratna of Bharat Dhirrajlal Hirachanda Ambani.
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