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        The whole world knows that G D Birla was a close friend of Mahatma Gandhi. He met Gandhiji in 1916 for the first time at Calcutta. From that day G D Birla's contact with Gandhiji continued till the end of his life; a period of 32 years, when Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead at Birla House in New Delhi on 30 January 1948. Referring to their close and intimate relationship, G D Birla wrote: 'How did I come in touch with him? The hidden hand of destiny, which works in an inscrutable manner, should alone be credited with this fortunate occurrence in my life. I had no political background and was therefore hardly worthy to be noticed by a world figure like Mahatma Gandhi'.

        G D Birla contributed massive sums of money on a continuing basis beginning from 1916 to Mahatma Gandhi towards all his developmental and welfare-oriented activities. He was not a Congressman and never contributed a rupee towards the funds of the Congress party. In other words, his attachment was only to Mahatma Gandhi, who sought Birla's help in all his public welfare activities. For example, on 9 April 1945, soon after coming out of prison, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to G D Birla as follows: 'My work has increased. What I am trying to achieve at present is that the institutions established by me are self-sufficient and no more money is expected from me. This will, of course, take some time, and meanwhile I shall have to find money for them as well. These organisations are: a) All India Spinners Association; b) Village Industries Association; c) Nai Talim; d) Hindustani Prachar and e) The Ashram. It is about the first four organisations I am now speaking. So far as the fifth organisation is concerned, it can never be self-dependent, though there is no lack of effort on my part to achieve even that. The Ashram also includes the hospital. The accounts of the hospital are maintained separately. Efforts are being made to get the money needed for its expenses from different sources; still the annual expenses of the Ashram alone are nearly Rs100,000/-. This I am quoting from memory. The Ashram is not in need of funds at present. Rameshwardas sends the needed money. As for b), c) and d) above, money is needed for these. Money is needed for the propagation of Hindi and Nai Talim. Probably I shall be needing Rs 200,000/-. Are you disposed to take this burden on your shoulders?' G D Birla promptly complied with his request and sent him a draft for Rs 200,000/-. I am citing this example as an instance to show the kind of relationship they had for 32 years.

        G D Birla had a personal equation with all the Viceroys beginning from Lord Reading. Lord Irwin was his friend. So was Lord Linlithgow. Lord Linlithgow and his secretary Laithwaite had personal regard for G D Birla. They used to rely upon G D Birla as a bridge for getting several clarifications from Mahatma Gandhi whenever there was a direct confrontation between Mahatma Gandhi and the Government of India.

        However, towards the end of 1940, when Mahatma Gandhi resumed the individual Civil Disobedience Movement, Lord Linlithgow was perhaps wrongly informed by his intelligence sources that G D Birla was financing this political movement. In December 1940 when G D Birla sought an interview with Lord Linlithgow, he politely refused to grant him an interview, despite the fact that they had been very close to each other for more than five years. Lord Linlithgow had told his secretary Laithwaite: 'Mr Birla is a friend of mine, but he is these days financing the Civil Disobedience Movement. Although he has every right to do so, since it is his own money, yet the fact that he is financing Gandhi's movement deters me from meeting him just now'. Laithwaite promptly communicated this informally to G D Birla when they met at Viceroy's house. G D Birla was quite shocked to get this kind of unfriendly response from Lord Linlithgow. He told Laithwaite: 'After this snub by the Viceroy, I will never again come to the Viceroy's house and today is the last chapter of my talks with him. You know how I have defended the Viceroy before Mahatma Gandhi and how I have acted as if I was the Viceroy's representative. And this is the way he has today reciprocated. Is it not stupidity?' So ended G D Birla's personal relation with the Viceroy.

        The message:

        The tragedy in Indian public life today is that we do not have leaders either with self respect or moral courage or dignity or decency or decorum. In our public life, at all levels we only have hallow and stuffed men and women. A simple one-liner will be adequate to comprehensively cover and describe the chronic maladies afflicting India today: India has moved from the Great Age of Mahatma Gandhi to the Glorious(!) Age of Sonia Gandhi.