Best tribute to Mr. Mishra is to continue his work: Vice President Hamid Ansari

Observer Research Foundation organised a Memorial Meeting at the India International Centre, Delhi, for its Founder Chairman Shri. R.K. Mishra. Well-known personalities from different fields took part in the meeting on January 24.

Mr M. Rasgotra, President, ORF Centre for International Relations: Mr. Vice President, Renukaji, friends. We have come together this afternoon to mourn the loss of Rishi Kumar Mishra, Founder Chairman of Observer Research Foundation who passed away on January 9, 2009 at Bangalore. Mishraji was a multidimensional man with a very splendid personality and a great diversity of interests. His life is studded with high accomplishments as a journalist, editor, nationalist, parliamentarian, writer, enquiring spiritualist and a creative thinker of unusual vigour. His mind constantly explored new horizons in the realms of national and international thought and action. The story of ORF's birth is characteristic of Mishraji's extraordinary ability to foresee future developments and the responses they would demand. On September 5, 1990 he brought together a few leading economic thinkers and produced an Agenda for Economic Reform. With that initiative were born the national policy of economic liberalisation and Observer Research Foundation. The institution he founded and nurtured is widely recognised as an independent multi-disciplinary public policy think tank of world class stature. ORF was his passion; it is now his solid legacy. Above all, Mishraji was a man with a warm heart who gave and received unfaltering loyalty and affection in personal friends and in working links. A grievous and irreparable loss for his family, his passing is also a huge loss to his large circle of friends and admirers and to our country. For us, his colleagues and friends in the Foundation, his memory will be an enduring inspiration and a constant companion till the end of our days. Mr Vice President, may I request you to kindly come to the podium and address us.

Mr. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India: Renukaji and friends. It is never easy to mourn anyone. The temptation always is to keep the grief within oneself rather than to articulate it and yet mourn we must and more so when we lose someone who is a friend not only in a personal sense but in an institutional sense, someone who was a public figure, who contributed so much in so many different fields and so many dimensions. The most remarkable thing about Mishraji was his immense capacity to come up with innovative insights into different dimensions of public life. His knowledge of the Indian political scene was remarkable, but he went way beyond the Indian political scene. His views on a whole range of issues ranging from spirituality to policy matters were always enlightening. I have had the privilege of spending over three years with him in the Observer Research Foundation and the great thing was that he always excited his friends by a new thought and then he would ask you to go and explore it further. He was in many ways a remarkable man. In his passing away, we have lost a friend. But as Rasgotra sahib said his legacy is Observer Research Foundation which has done good work and continues to do good work and has contributed to the public debate on a whole range of issues cutting across from politics to strategy to foreign policy, to economic matters, rural development and cultural issues. I think the best tribute we can collectively pay to him is to sustain his work and continue his work. To Renukaji, I can only say that we can't share her loss that is uniquely hers. But we can say that there are many of us in this city, in this country and in various places outside who mourn him very deeply. Thank you.

Mr. Lalit Bhasin: A Kashmiri poet had said, even after death, the fire in my heart will place for a chinar that will grow on my grave. ORF is the chinar which will blossom out, as all of you know what chinar is and it is his permanent legacy as the Hon'ble Vice President has said. This unique institution is second to none in the world. I was reading in the morning what TS Elliot wondered, "We greet each other, How's Life? Do we really expect an answer?" In a way, perhaps, there is no answer for rarely do we lead our lives consciously a mechanical and programmed life is erupt so much so that there is no life in living and TS Elliot wondered, "where is the life we have lost in living, where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge and where is the knowledge we have lost in information". I think Mishraji lived a life which was not lost in living. He contributed immensely in making it rich. He had the wisdom which coupled with the knowledge he disseminated to all parts of the world in no small measure. I think the biggest tribute to his memory is the friends that he has left behind so much so that each one of us feel that he was closest to us but the he had so many close friends. That is where his greatness lie that he created the same bond of close friendship not only between himself and the friends but among the friends themselves. That is how he created this bond, that is how he created relationships and that is how he created Observer Research Foundation. Thank you.

Mr. Mukesh Ambani: Hon'ble Vice President, Renuka aunty, friends. Mishra uncle is not in our midst any more. For me, Mishra uncle has been a part of my growing life. He and my father became friends even before Dhirubhai was known to India in the early 70s and since then, their bond of friendship clearly has reflected my thinking and he was dear to me in many ways. His profound wisdom during my dilemmas, his good counsel during my difficulties, his deep erudition during our debates, and his disarming smiles during our disagreements. We shared a special bond, a bond that was built on the depth of his diverse perspectives, on the expansiveness of his worldly views and on the richness of his theological and spiritual insights. This was also a bond that helped shape thinking for both me and my father in building Reliance. During our times of trials and our moments of glory, Mishra uncle was very erudite with our ancient scriptures. His insights have influenced my outlook, the concept of Vasudeva Kutumbam or the world as one family I realised in the mid-80s even before globalization became a buzzword and the philosophy of Kautilya that wealth creators have to emulate the Sun drawing water from rivers and oceans and returning the water to the earth as rain and bring prosperity to one and all on our planet was something that I have really imbibed from him. Today, he is one with water, the Sun and the Earth, leaving his legacy behind letting us take leaves from his life to learn to live with and to draw inspiration from. I pray to the almighty to give peace and tranquility to his soul and fortitude to all of us in overcoming his demise. All of us miss him and I am sure that he lives in our hearts and he will continue to live in our hearts of all of us as his friends, supporters, very committed to really building a stronger institution as his living legacy in ORF. May God give strength to Renuka Aunty particularly to support us as we go into the future.

Mr. D. Raja, Member of Parliament and National Secretary, CPI: Renukaji, Hon'ble Vice President, friends. I join all of you to pay my respects to Shri RK Mishra. We came to know each other when he was in Observer. He used to discuss with me many issues, the role of Left in Indian politics, the role of Left intellectuals in shaping the policies of the country like that. When he founded ORF, he used to continue the dialogue with me. When the Chennai Chapter was inaugurated, he asked me to inaugurate a seminar on Naxalite movement. I went there and inaugurated that seminar. There were many intellectuals, bureaucrats, present and former, many police, security officers present and it was a very lively debate on the whole issue of Naxalite movement. The proceedings have been brought into a book form. He had a politically sharp mind, very sensitive to the issues, very sensitive to the problems of the people. He also tried to understand the problems of the activists on the ground. Now I think if the government would have considered some of the recommendations made in that seminar, I think non-state players like Salva Judum would not have been necessary or the fake encounters in Chattisgarh could have been avoided. He was such a person who could foresee what would emerge in the days to come and I think he was one of the best thinkers, one of the very outstanding persons who could visualise the problems that would probably emerge as we move on and we really miss him very much. I hope the intellectual debate, the ideological discourse which he was interested in would continue in the best interests of the country and our people. I express my sincere sympathies and my party's sympathy to Renukaji. Thank you.

Mr. H. K. Dua, Editor-in-Chief, The Tribune group of newspapers: Mr Vice President, Renukaji, Mr Rasgotra, friends, ladies and gentlemen. I am one of RK's many friends. It is very difficult to speak about a friend's loss. He was very dear. Our relationship goes back over four decades ago, when we were correspondents covering Parliament and we used to sit in the Rajya Sabha Press Gallery and after that go for lunch. The conversations we used to have in Parliament's Restaurant, all the time he was worried which way the country is going, how the policies are being shaped or not shaped, why the country is not being run properly, etc. Never we had a conversation about ABCD or a third person. That kind of concern was visible till the last few days of RK. He always thought big and ahead of others. In fact, once he tried to elaborate on policies. I said Mishraji why cover Rajya Sabha, why not you should be there. He just smiled. I did not know that decision had been taken to have him in Parliament, but he did not laugh away the suggestion. He became fairly prominent in 1969 to 1971 politics. Those were the heady days of bank nationalization or privy purses, the country was divided ideologically and Mrs Gandhi and left of the centre people had come up on the top during those momentous years and Mishraji was in his full glory. He utilized the access to the people who mattered those days to be of importance, giving them the ideas, sharing them and warning them about the pitfalls. As I said he always thought ahead and one of his worries was that we in India are basically adhoc people, adhocism is widely prevalent creed, wherever there is a problem or a crisis we have all solutions, improvised solutions, there is no advance planning. This thought was recurring in our conversation and to set up a foundation was part of his thinking to end this culture of adhocism in decision making. Why cant the country be educated these are the problems, these are the options available, this is the background of each and you can choose. ORF was brought up with that kind of bent of mind who wanted to contribute and debate on vital issues before the country. It has grown into a major think tank and ORF in a short time is making contributions. But till the end, he was discussing with many friends individually and part of some discussions, always thinking of a new project. One was worried about his failing health but not he. His mind was always incisive, thinking ahead and thinking of new projects and new ideas to take ORF forward. Why? It is not just ORF alone. He had related ORF to 21st century India. Can ORF contribute to the policy making for a country of a billion people, an emerging power for the 21st century in international affairs, in diplomatic and strategic strength and economic relations is that it was very important to draw up policies by informed debate. Even the social areas were not neglected by him, internal problems were not neglected by him. He was particularly worried about the rise of Naxalism, the North East, terrorism, of social tensions. I think he did make subtle efforts in the 1990s to sort out the Babri Masjid problems in his own quiet ways but he did not succeed. But towards the end he was very keen to step up evolving policy options through informed debate through ORF to take it forward. The best tribute in his memory can be to carry on the task. Thank you very much.

Mr. Naval Kishore Sharma, Governor, Gujarat: Friends and admirers of Mishra. Much has been said about RK Mishra. I have known him for more than five decades. First he was the editor of a Hindi magazine in early 50s. His contribution to the journalism world is much more than what is being felt by the people. He was an idealist and a pragmatic person with a diversified personality. I had a long association here also in Delhi for nearly three decades. Possibly I am one who knows much more about his multi-faceted personality than anybody else. He was an original thinker. His contribution to ORF is immense. I am sorry to say that it has not been taken note. I had the occasion to participate in some of the debates. He was so dear and near to me; when I got the information that he passed away, I could hardly believe. Though he was suffering from a very dangerous disease, he came down to Gandhinagar nearly six months before and met me. I could have never thought that a man suffering from such a disease would be so brave. He was there with me for pretty long and I never thought that the end would come so soon. We the admirers should try to keep up his memory alive. My heart goes to Renukaji and his family members. There are no words to console them. Bereavement of a person so near and dear is always painful. But nobody can avoid it.

Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Member of Parliament and Spokesperson, BJP: Mrs Renukaji, ladies and gentlemen. I met Mishraji for the first time in mid-90s, courtesy my younger sister Anuradha. We got on well. When I became a member of parliament for the first time in the year 2000, I remember his first words. "Ravi, welcome formally to Delhi," he said. A kind of a very affectionate relationship grew where he almost became like a guardian-like figure to me in Delhi. He tutored me about the nuances of Indian politics as observed from the vantage position of Delhi, how to become a good Parliamentarian. Hardly after nine months of becoming an MP, I became a minister. But one event today I would like to share with you is that when I became the Information and Broadcasting Minister of India -- that seat is a hot seat and in my tenure this whole FDI in media became a much hotter subject -- there was a lot of lobbying and counter-lobbying. One day I went to him and sought his views. I have no hesitation in saying today in the midst of so many eminent journalists sitting here, he commented one thing. "Ravi, don't forget editorial independence in India has been an integral part of our freedom movement. And that ought not to be compromised regardless of whatever is the pressure." I came back and with my professional background I wrote the entire FDI guidelines myself. That word I wrote that foreign investors shall have no control whatsoever in editorial matters. I saw to it that regardless of the hot debate, that particular expression was never deleted. I remember after we lost power, he asked me to be involved in track II diplomacy. Due to my various political preoccupations I could not take the chance. But once he literally forced me to be a part of track II exchange in Moscow where I had the honour to go with Rasgotraji. He said as a Minister, as a Parliamentarian you have traveled to many countries in the world. Bit it is very important to have good experience of track II diplomacy as well. That was indeed very fascinating. How do I describe him? A man of profound intellect, he could anticipate events and always insisted that the country should formulate its responses that would confront it one day. But he was not dogmatic. One day he asked me to have dinner with him. On that day we discussed a lot on his migration from being a chronic leftist to thereafter a supporter of liberalisation. I kept on hearing him and he kept on speaking about how India has changed. It was indeed a great education for me. I wish he could write his memoirs. Mr. Rasgotra today I would sincerely request you that something ought to be done on that front. The biggest trait of his personality which has always fascinated me was that Mishraji has seen height of power, but it never touched him. What is indeed very important was that he trusted friends regardless of political divide and regardless of changing power fluctuations. That was indeed singularly extraordinary of him which we all need to learn. When I had gone to see him in Mumbai, I knew the kind of suffering he was undergoing. But I could never see pain on him. When the disease was advancing, he expressed a desire to meet Advaniji one day. I insisted Advaniji to just go and meet him. But to my utter amazement, when Advaniji was talking to him about his ailment, he was talking to him about the challenges. That was the man Mr RK Mishra was. We really miss him, a great man, a noble soul of India who had the interest of India in his heart.

Mr. Jagmohan, former Union Minister: Respected Renukaji, distinguished friends. The tragic uncertainty of life certainly overtakes us suddenly. When I read in the newspaper that Mr. Mishra is no more, I was completely shocked. I was aware that he was not keeping good health, but one could never imagine that he will leave us so soon. But at the same time, we have to recognize that death is not so powerful as we think. Its icy hands may take away the physical body, but it cannot take away the memories, the associations, and the good work which the man leaves behind. I can still see Mishraji all around me. I can still see him in the IIC and saying ?Jagmohan sahab bahut din ho gaye mile nahin kisi din baithke coffee peeni chahiye'. So, death has its own limitations. I wrote a small article on spiritual reconstruction of India. He wrote a letter somewhere from South about 5-6 months ago saying that he was very impressed by this and would come and discuss this matter with you. Unfortunately, that discussion never took place because he never came and met us. I have a large number of cases in which we had deep interactions. Even as a young officer when I was dealing with slums, sometimes he would get upset. I went and discussed and during the course of discussion I talked of the mental slums of India. Then he said this is a very good idea. "Why don't you write for us on the mental slums?" he asked. So he was always looking for the inner causes of all problems, the fundamental causes of all problems. I was sent to Kashmir for the second time and this is a secret which I am telling you today. I was very hesitant to go. Even when I was called at midnight on 19th January and told, "Mr Jagmohan Kashmir has been lost, you have been there earlier, you go there again and something may be done because you had established a good rapport with the people and with the bureaucracy, we have lost virtually Kashmir you kindly go." I was still very hesitant but Mishraji's words persuaded me to go there for the second time. I can never forget his sincerity for the national cause. Observer Research Foundation is doing wonderful work and all my distinguished friends have spoken about his ideas on economy and politics and various other things. He made contribution in various walks of life and I would only suggest one thing. You will be discussing the economic reconstruction of India, you may be discussing the political reconstruction of India, the bureaucratic reconstruction of the governance machinery but I would also suggest to keep his memory really afresh you may also consider spiritual reconstruction of India, which is of fundamental importance which gives values that underpins all our actions. Unless our mind is pure, unless our soul is pure, we will not be able to deliver the India which we visualise. On this occasion I pray to God that his soul may rest in peace and particularly Renukaji she has suffered a great loss and we all pray that God may give courage to all of us to face this loss. Thank you.

Mr. Bharat Goenka, Trustee, ORF: For most of you I am an unusual speaker, and obviously not old enough to have known uncle Mishra well enough. Yesterday I was sharing with my wife that the only way I can describe my relationship with him was of having a love affair with a 70-year old man that is when I met him six years ago. As with all love affairs it did not start spectacularly. I was introduced to him as an ex-MP and my guard just went up. I have never been face to face with a present or ex-MP and that was the relationship with him was. Again, as with all love affairs, with each passing knowledge and closeness to him it started mattering to me what he thought. What he thought about me, what he thought about my caliber, what he thought about what I think, what I speak, and I could see that I was becoming conscious of trying to take my best out knowing that it matters what he thinks. Again, as with all love affairs, it was extremely private so it was very difficult to talk about. I would like to mention one thing which I came to know within a few months of meeting him and which increased my fascination and closeness and allowed me to spend several hours with him, which he had to tolerate and that was his deep knowledge and understanding of our ancient scriptures and his deep passion on its revival. I said there is spiritual revival or you can enhance it to even saying intellectual revival of India. A few months after I had met him he gifted me a book with a very unusual title "Before the Beginning, After the End". It was at 4 o'clock in the morning and I was sitting with him. I still remember taking the book and without even opening it for half an hour we discussed just the title, what is before the beginning and after the end; it is an oxymoron. The use of the phrases itself was so deep. In that half an hour I still did not connect that he was the author of the book. I thought that he had just gifted a book which he wanted me to read. In the next several weeks, one came to know about the total amount of work that he has put inside in trying to undo the problems of Indian intellectual history and the effort and dedication that he has put behind it. Amongst the legacies that we have to preserve and take further is this specific aspect of his. I hope that in some small way several of us in this room are going to be able to continue to make that happen. Despite the inability to control my emotion completely I have to admit that I have not been as good a student of his as I should have been. Particularly in the last two years on more than one occasion he tried to teach me that sometimes what we cannot achieve in the limitations that we have in the human form we only achieve when we liberate ourselves from it. Therefore, this change of form is not to be mourned but to be celebrated. I wish I could be a good enough student to be able to do it.

Mr. Chandan Mitra, Member of Parliament and Editor-in-Chief, The Pioneer: Jagmohanji just said that he still feels the presence of Mishraji all around here and in his life. I have been a part of Link House, the Pioneer office is located there, it has been located there since 1991, and that was the same place from which Mishraji once used to operate when I first met him when he was the Editor of Patriot. So the feeling of his spirit and him being somewhere around in this world of journalism has been there with me for a long long time. I later joined the Observer of which he was the Chairman of the Editorial Board. It was then that I actually discovered Mishraji's character, the depth of his knowledge and his ability to articulate that knowledge in very simple, lucid ways and impart it on anybody who is willing to learn. He taught me two very important things, one very personal and one philosophical. Once, he took some action which I was greatly upset about. So I went up to him with my resignation letter. He smiled, made me sit down, and told me, "Chandan, when you are very upset, when you think great wrong has been done to you, never react the same day." Just give it 24 hours. Sleep overnight, you will think differently the next morning. Since then, I have always tried to practice it in real life and I can't tell you how valuable that one tip has been that whenever I am upset, whenever angry, don't react immediately. You react after a bit of passage of time the whole thing sinks in and you start realising that may be you were also at fault. It is a great lesson for which I will always be indebted to Mishraji. Another thing he once told me was that the difference between the western mind and the Indian mind is that the western mind is linear in thinking and the Indian mind is circular because there are layers and layers of consciousness in the Indian mind. When we rationalise, we look at innumerable possibilities, interactions of possibilities and then reach a very complex resolution of problems, which is why sometimes if there is a problem you should not go and solve it immediately. You allow the problem to develop, you sometimes allow the problem to settle down because 99 out of 100 times a problem resolves itself whereas if you intervene prematurely the problem may worsen and the wounds may fester. It was again a deep fundamental and philosophical point which I have always tried to figure out that why people of different parts of the world interpret and see things differently from one another. I was never really aware that he was such a deep scholar of the texts, the scriptures, and India's intellectual history and tradition till he wrote that book which Bharatji just mentioned. I told Mishraji I am too inadequate to review a book of this magnitude so please don't press me to carry a review, I will just carry an excerpt. When I tried to carry an excerpt I did not know where to begin and where to end. That was the depth and range of his knowledge and he never retained anything to himself. Whatever he learnt, whatever the experience, whatever the knowledge he acquired, like a true rishi he passed it on to anybody who cared to learn. I did and I am richer for that.

Mr. V.I. Trubnikov, The Ambassador of Russia: Dear Renukaji, dear friends. I came over here on this very sad occasion not as an ambassador of my country but as a human being, as a friend of the late great personality of India. He was my guru. I came to know India from him ? contemporary India and spiritual India because no one in the world could foresee the future of this country as clear as RK Mishra. I am absolutely sure that the greatness is better visible at a distance and I am absolutely sure that the greatness of this unique personality will be better seen at a distance of years and future generations and the brilliant legacy of ORF will prove this. He was the man who could foresee future. He was the man of great knowledge and his strength of persuasion was a unique one. I did not meet in my life a man who could think so logically as late RK Mishra. He was always prepared to share his knowledge with his friends. He never tried to impose his point of view, his outlook, his perception; he was able to persuade them. It is very difficult to determine exactly who was he and what was he. I came to know him in 1971 as a journalist. Sitting in the Parliament press gallery, listening to the discussions over there and then listening to RK Mishra as a Rajya Sabha member. Every year there is something new to my knowledge about this personality. I did not stop wondering where is the limit to a human being's ability to develop, to study and to teach at the same time. Of course, this loss is really irreparable for Renukaji specifically of course but for all of us and for all those who are beyond the walls of this hall. I cannot avoid mentioning his unique contribution in the links between erstwhile Soviet Union and today's Russia and India. It is even difficult to measure the depth of this contribution, the wideness of this contribution and the importance of this contribution. But I am absolutely sure that he is going to live till I am alive, for me it is like this and I am absolutely sure that it is the same for all of you. I consider that a person lives till the friends are still alive and remember. So he is among us and I think that this organisation, this legacy should be maintained, developed like something which is going to be cherished by all of those who are here, who are beyond the walls of this hall and on behalf of my colleagues from Russia, from academicians who used to come here to meet him and discuss extremely difficult problems of today's globalising world for them it is also a very big loss but being together I am absolutely sure that we are going to continue building this foundation as the best memorial for our late friend. Thank you.

Amb. Abid Hussain, Trustee, ORF: We are meeting this evening to remember a great man, a visionary who left us to go far away. It is an evening of sadness and introspection. He had many dreams, some he realized, others he has left behind. He loved his country, its people and traditions. There are many in the audience who knew him for long, were close to him, and worked with him closely. I came close to him only recently. I don't know how we became close. I was deeply attracted to him; he used to call me in the evening and persuade me to read books, some written by him, some by others. We would then discuss a wide range of issues, from politics to religion to country. It used to be great occasions. I always look forward to such meetings. It was a new relationship in the making but it was not to be....

Maulana Omair Ahmad Ilyasi, the general secretary of the All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques, spoke of how Mishraji was working tirelessly, as usual behind the scenes, to resolve the Ayodhya dispute. He narrated how concerned was Mishraji over the communal divide caused by this dispute and had meetings with the Shankaracharya and Muslim leaders to resolve the issue. He hoped that Allah fulfill Mishraji's wish.

Mr. Shahid Siddiqui, BSP National General Secretary and Editor-in-Chief of Nai Duniya Urdu daily, also spoke. The meeting concluded with observance of two minutes silence.