D R Pendse on the Criticism he faced through his Career

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZSeDVMwEI Duration: 316.9s

D. R. Pendse (00:09): In India, many people, politicians, economists call me anti-national. They just couldn’t believe what I was talking was the right thing for the country. So so many — I’ve got so many letters — like reactionary, fundamentalist, anti-national. All these are adjectives for me. Well, I will not — I’m not going to stop that. I — I’m convinced in my mind that I’m doing the right thing. I will do it. And, eventually, you have proven right? Ultimately. And that in my book, there’s a — towards the end, I have written one — one I After JRD. There’s one section I have written. Actually, that is slightly beyond the our discussion, but I don’t — because it’s anecdote, as you said. There was a college in — So they had a — in that college, Premay said there was a meeting. Some — in the some industries call it — some Japanese people or something like that, and they invited me as a — So I went there. Somebody was a professor of economics in that college introduced me. I don’t remember his name now, by the way. Introduced me. And during the introduction, he said, and I still remember that. He said, I would like to introduce Mister Pendse to me because Mister Pendse has always been writing letter articles for the last twenty five years. I’ve been reading them, and we always considered him as a reactionary and anti-national. He was writing something which we never — which we could never accept in our society. We thought he was a stooge of the monopoly, stooge of that. That’s all. He said that in introducing me. We thought that. And but then gradually, things became — started becoming so bad that we realized one day — and one day when our gold had to be transported and all that. We never knew that things were so bad. Then we realized that we were all wrong, and he was the only man right. And that is what Mister Pendse is — Mister Pendse. But there’s a lot of Japanese people who had come there. So introducing me to them, It was a big meeting. So he said that. So that is — that is my my testimony. That I was considered anti-national, but then they said, no. There is — not anti-national. I had also a sense of patriotism in my mind. And that is that I mentioned in my JRD book, I After JRD. And because, you know, what I said is that one must — you see, there again, He put me on a Octroi alternatives committee. He was against the Octroi, and I was also against it. So there was a Government of Maharashtra that appointed a committee. Well, this is a change of subject, but it’s as a — as a — Please. I think doctors will be interested. So I’ll donate you. So they asked him to be a member. He said, no. I’m not an economist. I will — my Mister Pendse is our economist. I will request him to be a — said, alright. So I became a member. And then I find — found that whatever I was saying, none of the members could accept. I just couldn’t — what had happened to me. And I become — whatever I said, they were always object, other members of the committee. Some bureaucrats, some of these, some of professional. I said, this is bad. I — I told Mister one day. So I said, you have appointed me, but I’m becoming very unpopular in the committee. Nobody accept my view. Nobody would want to listen to me. And then you know what he told me? He said remember, we have not put you there to win any popularity contest. If you are convinced that what you are saying is the right thing, you must say it and you must keep on saying it emphatically. Don’t worry. We have not put you there to win any popularity contest. And that is what has guided me. I kept on saying — if I am convinced, I kept on saying that whatever people say, I will skip. That is what this man also, he said, we thought that he was anti-national, but he evolved. Now we formed it. And even if we are not formed, it doesn’t matter. Now many sides and which I have made, still people think they’re absurd. It doesn’t matter. Let them say so. I’m convinced about it. I’m going to say that. You see what I’m — so that thinking that — do not — we have not put you there for winning any popularity contest. So the economic adviser job is not to win any popularity contest. The economic adviser job is to pursue — to first think, analyze, develop thinking, which is right, and then speak it. Whatever it is. That is what he was thinking. I have followed that.