It was the late 1970s. I received a call from S Viswanathan, chairman, Seshasayee Group of companies, requesting me to meet R Venkataraman (RV) that evening for rendering possible assistance in printing the Labour Law Journal that RV was then editing.

I met RV that evening. Dressed in a simple khadi dhoti and kurta, he was busy proof-reading through his thick glasses in a modest room at the end of the flight of stairs leading to the terrace in dim light. Through the next couple of hours RV took me on a delightful journey down the memory lane. It provided rich insights into the several instances when he took unconventional and unorthodox steps that contributed so much to the rapid industrialisation of Tamil Nadu.

I recall one such: RV persuaded J H Tarapore, C S Loganatha Mudaliar and T S Narayanaswamy to set up the South India Shipping Corporation (SISCO). RV offered equity investment by the state financial corporation, the Madras Industrial Investment Corporation (later TIIC) of a crore of rupees. It was the first major attempt of Tamil Nadu in independent India to set up a shipping company and RV was keen to assist the same. The company placed orders with a German shipyard at Bremen for the acquisition of six bulk carriers.

RV recounted: "The German company wanted the deal to be completed before 31 March and demanded payment before that date. T A Verghese, then finance secretary (a member of the ICS, he holds the record for this post and is among the most efficient of the civil servants), pointed to a procedural difficulty: that the memorandum and articles of association of MIIC did not provide for equity investment in a corporate not defined as an industrial unit and that shipping was at that time not eligible for such finance. It needed amendment of the M&AA which would take time beyond 31 March."

RV took up the matter to chief minister K Kamaraj who appreciated the need for this investment. He called for Verghese and asked him to find a solution. Verghese suggested providing for this sum in the states budget to meet the deadline and attending to the funds transfer after completing the necessary amendments. "Thus it was a precedent of sorts when the state budget provided for the equity of a private corporation," narrated RV. (Some three decades later when the Essar Group took over SISCO, it paid a humungous sum for the shares held by TIIC).

He constantly encouraged investment in the state

RV was truly the architect of the industrialisation of Tamil Nadu. Making use of the policy of licensing, RV procured licences for a vast range of industries from paper to aluminum to viscose fibre to shipping… apart from procuring dozens of licences for more familiar industries like textiles, sugar and cement. He used to persuade new generation entrepreneurs to set up industrial units assuring them assistance to procure technical and financial collaboration as also funding support through equity and term loans by MIIC and other Central development banks. Tamil Nadu witnessed nithya kalyanam-pachai thoranam with one industrial unit or other getting established every day. RV maintained close rapport with budding entrepreneurs and encouraged them to invest in industry.

Under Kamaraj, RV handled an array of portfolios from 1957 to 1967 - industry, power, labour, transport, cooperation and commercial taxes. Teaming well with then Cabinet minister T T Krishnamachari and many illustrious bureaucrats of Delhi, RV also attracted rich Central investments in Neyveli Lignite Corporation, BHEL-Tiruchi, Heavy Vehicles factory-Avadi, Madras Refineries, Madras Fertilisers and the small arms factory.

Golden decade of industrialisation

That decade under RV was the golden era for the industrialisation of the state. With his keen interest in automobiles and ancillaries, RV also encouraged the setting up of dozens of units that included the rich crop of component units of TVS at Padi, of Amalgamations at Sembium, units of the Rane Group and vehicle manufacturers like TAFE. Today Tamil Nadu accounts for production of around 30 per cent of vehicles and 35 per cent of auto components justifying RVs reference to Chennai as the Detroit of India.

Not just medium and large industries; RV was also the father of the small industry movement. The Guindy Industrial Estate pioneered the concept of providing common facilities that encouraged new generation entrepreneurs to set up industrial units with limited capital. The movement caught on rapidly with dozens of such estates proliferating in quick time. Thousands of small and tiny industries flourished in this state under the benign lead of RV.

RV was steadfast in his loyalty to Kamaraj and moved over to Indira Congress only after the latter's demise. What a meteoric ascent that ensued! RV assumed charge as the Union finance minister in 1980, then as defence minister, vice president and President of India.

A freedom fighter, lawyer, trade union leader and constitutional expert, RV represented India in several UN bodies and multilateral institutions. This experience stood by him in good stead in steering the transition of the federal government from a single party rule to the era of coalitions during his tenure as president during 1987-92. He saw four prime ministers during his presidency with three of these heading minority governments and there was also the proliferation of regional parties with tenuous coalitions. RV was a textbook president who preferred to go by the rule book. The healthy convention he established of calling the party with the largest following to form the government, and not to go by the manipulative display post-elections, came to be regarded as a healthy practice.

It appeared a miracle for a Brahmin from Tamil Nadu to have risen to the highest post of the country, viewed against the virulent and long anti-Brahmin tirade in the state. The DMK has not permitted a member of this caste to get into the party and gain prominence. For close to four decades, no vice chancellor of any of the state-funded university has been headed by a member of this community.

DMK supremo Karunanidhi had a special grouse against RV for signing the dismissal of his government in 1991 recommended by then prime minister Chandra Sekhar. Later in the 1990s, when prime minister A B Vajpayee constituted a commission to look into necessary amendments to the constitution and suggested RV to head this, the DMK supremo reportedly shot this proposal down and Justice Venkatachalaiah was chosen instead.

I chanced to interview then AP chief minister Chandrababu Naidu when he received a phone call from one of the senior officials of AP from Delhi. Naidu enquired why RV was not chosen and was shrewd enough to ensure that one from AP (Justice Jeevan Reddy) was part of the commission.

In the post-presidential years, RV leaned towards the BJP and was close to Vajpayee. His loud thinking on the formation of a national government did offer an interesting solution to the kichidi of coalition governments at the Centre that are at the mercy of the regional chieftains. But then no change can be brought about without their involvement.