Mahajan — Man who rode astride two horses

CIOL Bureau, CNS

"Now we have the right person at the helm. We should be really happy," were the words late Dewang Mehta started his animated conversation when Pramod Mahajan was appointed minister for IT. He did not conceal his enthusiasm towards the new minister and also let be known that NASSCOM had rooted for this man all along.

Mahajan hailing from Maharashtra and considered close to the Advani camp set the ball rolling in no time by raising the sails of his ministry to the gutsy winds that were blowing during those times and reaped good speed.

The biggest stumbling block for Mahajan came in Ram Vilas Paswan who was then holding the communication portfolio. There was a visible tug-of-war between an expansionist Mahajan who wanted communications ministry and the IT ministry to be merged and a socialist Paswan who sun bathed in the telecom revolution.

To everyone’s relief, Mahajan succeeded in merging IT and communication portfolios and retaining the expanded ministry. He also got through the Convergence Bill, which spelt out keystone policies regarding Internet telephony. The biggest credit to date is his role in getting MediaAsia Labs to India beating several contenders in Asia including China. Few people also remember that he worked towards removing bureaucracy from the policy.

"Roti, kapda, makaan aur Internet," was a favorite slogan of Mahajan picked up from his pal Dewang Mehta. He became the mascot for India’s ambition of becoming a software super power. When the rest of the world reeled under a tech backlash, Mahajan picked a leaf out of his friend’s book and kept the optimism flag flying high.

For the IT industry that loves to say, "We grew despite the government," Mahajan was merely a catalyst. He was a strong votary of government spending in e-governance and had promised funds for all states. He was pushing for a 3 percent government budgetary allocation for e-governance projects.

However, his impressions were deeper in the communication industry. The stand-off between first Trai panel and himself and the subsequent reconstitution of Trai is legendary. He was about to cross roads yet again with Trai this time with the interconnect charges imbroglio. He mooted the idea of merging BSNL and MTNL sending a shock wave in a fissured telecom industry. He crossed roads with the basic operators on the issue of extending service to villages. He was also pushing for a 74 per cent FDI in telecom in the place of 24 per cent currently.

Just when everything was looking great for Mahajan, the first blow came in the form of Shivani murder case in which his name was dragged in. The shadow was too deep. Later came the vicious battle between cellular operators and the basic operators on WiLL-Cell interconnect charges. Mahajan was seen backing the cause of the basic service providers. Some in the industry also accused him of hob nobbing with Reliance with it Infocomm services set the sector on fire.

Mahajan also happens to be a shrewd politician. How can one forget the picture of a cell phone toting Mahajan promising people that BJP will get enough support during Vajpayee’s 13-day government saga. He is credited with managing to get a sizeable MPs to pledge their loyalties to the BJP-led government then. For BJP, a sauve, media friendly, witty, measured Mahajan is a boon in the field than in the south block.