A leader ahead of his time

It was Pramod Mahajan's passion for making India a global
telecommunications and IT hub that helped the country reap the benefits of
globalization. In keeping with his spirit of spreading IT to the masses, he was
more than instrumental in tabling the IT Act 2000.

Mahajan, who succumbed to his injuries on May 3,
was battling for life since April 22 when Pravin shot him over what the
latter perceived as a slight from his elder brother.

Remembrances from the industry

“Today, if we look at India's telecom map, there is tremendous growth. A
lot of this is because of Mahajan's efforts to liberalize and utilize
technology in a better way,” said NK Goyal, Chairman, Telecom Equipment
Manufacturing Association.

Remembering his interact-ions with Mahajan, Goyal said that it was a trip to
Russia that gave him a chance to get acquainted with the politician. “I still
remember the time when we went to Russia as part of a delegation and Mahajan was
with us. He never behaved as a well-known politician and was more than
comfortable as a team leader to us. We even met up with the Russian PM. He was
full of confidence and energy,” Goyal recalled.

According to Bipin Batra, President, Cellular Phone Users Association of
India, Mahajan will always be remembered as a leader who understood the telecom
industry very well. “Usually, politicians do not devote much time
understanding the technological nuances of the portfolio they are handling. But
Mahajan differed from them and took the pains to learn as much as he could about
this segment. Personally, I will always remember him as a great statesman and
someone who under-stood what the end customer wanted,” Batra added.

Many of Mahajan's contemporaries consider him to be a person who always
looked ahead. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) Advisor for
Converged Networks, Satya Gupta remembers Mahajan as a forward-looking
politician who knew what he was doing. “He was a true champion of liberalizing
new cutting edge technologies like VoIP. He was the one who opened the telecom
sector in its truest sense. Whether it is the opening of VoIP or the
international long distance. It is all a result of his liberal policies. There
were people who stood against him and he had to face a lot of opposition
but it never deterred him,” Gupta eulogized.

Brickbats galore

However, his political tenure was not too smooth. Whether it is the issue of
taking telecom services to the rural parts of the country, interconnect charges
imbroglio or the reconstitution of TRAI itself, Mahajan was at the helm of
controversies.

But Mahajan managed to sail through these accusations with a smile on his
face. Today, the Indian IT and telecom recalls this smiling and charismatic
political fondly. His death at the hands of his own brother brought an end to
what surely looked like a promising political career.

Zia Askari