By M P Joseph. First Published in The Week on May 19, 2020.
Retired civil servant M.P. Joseph argues ‘Make in India’ itself was a copy.
Those who are old enough will remember the Ambassador. An Indian version of the Morris Oxford car, the Ambassador was India’s work-horse, until Maruti stepped in. Later when the market was hit with an avalanche of cars with unpronounceable names, the Ambassador died a much delayed death.
It was a solid car. And like anything that is solid, it did not change with time. The Model that its then Calcutta–based manufacturer, Hindustan Motors, first introduced in the mid-1950s was called Landmaster. Then a few years later and with some significant changes the car was re-christened Ambassador. Thereafter the car continued on Indian roads, until the spate of new cars in the market, killed it.
Hindustan Motors was customer savvy. They knew that customers need change, and a changeless Ambassador could lead to its competitor Premier Padmini gaining an upper hand. They got over the contradiction cleverly. Every decade or so, they would change the car’s grill, or change the shape of its headlights or the design of its steering wheel or dashboard. Each such change came with a change of Mark. So we started off with the Ambassador Mark 1, then a few years later with a change of grill it became the Ambassador Mark 2, then a decade later, we got a change of headlights and Ambassador Mark 3, then Mark 4.
I can only remember upto Mark 4. I think that was when the Ambassador got annihilated in a liberalised economy.
When I heard of Modi’s concept of Atmanirbhar Bharat, which he said was his effort at moving India to a stage of self-reliance, do I hear a shade of Trump’s America First, there? I was definitely reminded of the Ambassador.
Modi may have forgotten it, but only 5 years ago in 2015, he had said the same thing. At that time, it was not called Atmanirbhar, but ‘Make in India’.
Did you also forget it?
And it is that short memory that we the people of India have, that Modi is banking on. Calling his 2015 Make in India, the Atmanirbhar of 2020. The wine is the same, only the bottle is different. And not even very different either. For if you listen closely Atmanirbhar sounds almost like Ambassador. The first and the last letters of a word, pundits will tell you, is all that you will see when you read; all the letters in between the first and the last don’t make much of an impression on your brain.
The Make in India of 2015 was itself a copy. And typically since I know in politics there is nothing called an IPR, when Modi copied it five years ago, there was no reference at all to the original creators of the concept.
It was in 1905 that the Indian National Congress started the Swadeshi Movement. And the idea of Make in India was born. And later Mahatma Gandhi gave a call to the country to boycott English clothes. Off came the suits, and shirts and trousers, socks and shoes of the freedom fighters which were burnt in huge heaps across the country.
That was an event almost unheard of, in human history. Wearing charka spun Khadi became a new norm. In booting out the Englishman’s suit boot ki Sarkar, Gandhi effectively used the idea of Swadeshi. The Make in India Mark 1 was born.
And then after independence, Nehru came out with his Make in India Mark 2. Building huge dams and hydro electric projects, setting up huge factories manufacturing heavy electrics, electronics, consumables, consumer durables, cars (which by the way gave birth to the Ambassador, the Premier Padmini etc.), India embarked on its road to self-sufficiency. Swadeshi Mark 2 also produced swadeshi technocrats, managers, scientists et al, through IITs, IIMs etc.
Whether it was steel or iron or hydro, thermal or nuclear power, clothes or cars, trains or buses, food or milk, technocrats or scientists, we began making in India all the things that we needed.
The Make In India of 2015, was but a changing of the grill of the Ambassador car, a Mark 3 if you will.
And in a mere 5 years, we now have the Atmanirbar, which is the murdered Mahatma’s Swadeshi initiative all over again, a Make in India Mark 4. A rose is a rose is a rose. It will smell the same by any other name.
Or as the French would have said, plus the change, plus ca le meme chose. The more you change, the more it is the same old thing.
The Ambassador car was driven out of the market before it could introduce a Mark 5. Let us see if Modi will be a more thick-skinned survivor and a Mark 5 will come along shortly.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. AlignIndia does not take any responsibility for the content of the article.
M P Joseph is a former Indian and UN Civil Servant. He belongs to the 1978 batch of the IAS and has worked with the UN & ILO in India and abroad for 20 years. He can be contacted on mpjoseph@hotmail.co.uk