[Letter to Mr Minoo Masani]

Summary

A one-page typed letter dated 13 March 1980 from Bhai Gobinder Singh Sidhu — a member of the Cotton Advisory Board under the Government of India’s Ministry of Industry, writing on his official letterhead from V. & P. O. Bhucho Khurd, District Bhatinda — to Minoo Masani. The letter is a personal request rather than a policy document. Sidhu opens with pleasantries, regrets that Masani had been too busy to grant him an interview on an earlier occasion, and thanks him warmly for having written on his behalf to Mr. Rao, Manager of the Bombay Cycle & Motor Agency Limited, urging expedited delivery of a Premier Padmani car Sidhu had booked on 27 April 1979.

Because Mr. Rao replied that only the manufacturers themselves can specially expedite delivery, Sidhu now asks Masani to intervene again whenever he has occasion to speak with the manufacturers. He explains the urgency: he is contesting the “comming election” and cannot campaign effectively without reliable transport. Invoking Masani’s “vast resources and connection in Bombay,” he apologises for troubling him over a matter that is minor for Masani but pressing for himself, and notes that delivery any time in April would be acceptable. The letter is signed “Yours sincerely” and hand-signed above the typed name Bhai Gobinder Singh Sidhu.

Key points

• Correspondent is Bhai Gobinder Singh Sidhu, Member of the Cotton Advisory Board (Ministry of Industry, Govt. of India), writing from Bhucho Khurd, District Bhatinda.
• The letter is dated 13 March 1980, reference number 32/80, and archived as work 1116 in the Indian Liberals corpus.
• Sidhu thanks Masani for a prior intervention with Mr. Rao, Manager of Bombay Cycle & Motor Agency Limited, over delivery of a Premier Padmani car booked on 27 April 1979.
• Mr. Rao had told Sidhu that only the car’s manufacturers, not the dealer, can specially expedite delivery.
• Sidhu asks Masani to approach the manufacturers directly whenever he has an opportunity, appealing to Masani’s Bombay connections.
• The stated urgency is Sidhu’s need for reliable transport to campaign in the coming (1980) election.
• Sidhu also alludes to a still-outstanding request for an interview with Masani that had earlier been declined for want of time.
• The document illustrates the day-to-day patronage traffic that flowed through Masani’s network of political and business contacts in Bombay.