Tribute to Mr. Rishi Kumar Mishra

HOME

ABOUT US Home Founder Chairman Trustees Research Faculty

OUR INITIATIVES Analysis Reports South Asia Assessment

PUBLICATIONS Policy Brief Issue Brief Monographs Occasional Papers Strategic Trends ORF Discourse Books Energy News Monitor US Election Monitor ORF Seminar Series

EVENTS

CHAPTERS Mumbai Chennai

CENTRES Centre for International Relations Institute of Security Studies Centre for Resources Management Centre for Economy and Development Centre for Politics and Governance

PARTNERS Institutional Partners Event Partners Dialogue Partners

CAREERS Internship Jobs Login

LIBRARY

CONTACT US

Services

E-mail Account

How to
reach ORF

Tribute

You are here:orfonline » Tribute

His mind was like a wide angle lens

A complete transcript of the condolence meeting held at ORF Auditorium on January 12, 2009 to pay tribute to Mr. Rishi Kumar Mishra, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation

Amb. M Rasgotra, President, ORF Centre for International Studies

Mishraji founded ORF and he nurtured it and gave it many, many different dimensions. His ambition was to create a world-class independent think tank. He succeeded in that objective. In him we had a man whose mind was like a wide-angle lens, with a rare capacity to see the entire panorama of a situation without losing focus on the centre. He made his mark on diverse planes, diverse aspects, as a journalist, as a Member of Parliament, as a writer; very few people know that for years now he was engaged in exploring the mysteries of man’s inner life. He is a rare man like of whom the elite of Delhi and the elite of India will not get easily.

Our first acquaintance goes back to the mid-‘70s. Soon after the 1971 Bangladesh war I was in India and I then did not know Mr RK Mishra; he asked somebody to locate me where I was visiting and we met briefly. Then, we did not meet for years. When I came back from my foreign sojourns as Foreign Secretary in 1982 he sought me out and in those first two meetings we discovered something which we had in common. After my retirement, he said to me, “now we have to work together and we will find the areas in which we should work together”. I think he consulted with Rajiv Gandhi who had just taken over as Prime Minister and we set up an Institute of South East Asian Studies, which is still alive. Then one thing led to another and when the Observer Research Foundation became active he got hold of me again. I was then working with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and he said, “Well, you can continue there but you have to work with me”, and there was no resisting that call.

As the years passed I shared his objective as to what he wanted to make of this organisation and I gave him my commitment to his cause, the ORF. He, as my younger brother, gave me affection and total trust and respect. This was the relationship we had. I feel a personal loss as I am sure most of us here do, because in ORF he knew even the junior-most person personally. He would send for them one by one, guide them, coach them, instruct them, encourage them, sometimes admonish them; this was his idea, this was his way and this is the best way of building an institution.

It is very difficult to speak about him for me personally; the involvement becomes deep, but I want to promise the family that all of us here are committed to the goal, the ideal he has set for us and in the coming months and years it will be our common endeavour to build ORF into a worthy memorial to our mentor, to our founder, to our guide, to our friend.

Admiral K K Nayyar

A great tribute was paid to Mishraji a couple of days ago when Mr Lal Krishna Advani said that he had known him for over 50 years and he considered him a greatest nationalist in spite of great political and ideological differences he had with him. Mishraji was a great man, he was a wise man, and he was a committed person. There was hardly an issue of concern to human beings, to the nation, and indeed to humanity, that was not of huge concern to him. He applied himself completely to these issues; he was one of the hardest working persons I have come across. Mishraji was committed to these issues and he thought that the vehicle to address these issues would be an appropriate think tank. His concern was that the institution which he had set up should continue to grow and remain dynamic and, above all, he was concerned with the issues facing the nation and human beings. I have no doubt that all in the Observer family would be totally committed to seeing that this institution carries on with the ideals which this great man had set.

Mr Vivek Sengupta, CEO

I have not known Mr Mishra for long. I had one work related meeting with him some years ago and then I came to know him closely a year and quarter ago and met him regularly thereafter. To that extent I consider myself much less blessed and much less privileged than many of you here. So that was my misfortune. However, equally, I consider myself fortunate and privileged that he regarded me as someone who merited to be a member of the ORF family and one of his associates. I will share with you some of the qualities that impressed me about this extraordinary man; in fact, extraordinary is the word that best describes him; everything about him is extraordinary. It was these extraordinary qualities of head and heart that moved me. As a knowledge worker I was impressed by his extraordinary intellect, his range of interests, his grasp of issues, his understanding of individuals; his ability to make compelling arguments were really and truly breathtaking indeed.

I recall the words of Chanakya:

Vidvatvancha nripatvancha naiva toolya kadachana
Swadeshey poojyatey raja
Vidvan sarvatra poojyate

This was brought home to me last year when I met with scholars in the US and was amazed by the reverential terms with which all of them spoke of him, the same terms with which his admirers spoke of him in India. Then again I was struck by him ability to delve in diverse and seemingly disparate worlds - the world of politics, the world of public policy, the world of public affairs and the world of business and corporate affairs. His intellect multitasked in remarkable ways. Above all, I was impressed by his ability to envision a truly unique institution like ORF and then not just envision it but to give shape to that vision and build this up to what it is today. The best tribute that we can pay to him is to carry on with the good work, consolidate on what he had achieved and try and build on it. His life was gentle and the elements so mixed in him; nature might well stand up and say, “This was a man.”

Mr C M Jayan, Assistant Secretary, ORF

I have had the privilege of knowing him close enough to keep his memories with me all through my life. Mr Mishra leaves behind a void in the lives of all of us. So far, even though he was not able to come to office and personally meet us, the knowledge that he is alive somewhere in the far vicinity used to be a guiding force for all of us. With him ends an era. I only wish that ORF will be able to achieve the goals which Mr Mishra has set. Let us all strive together to achieve these goals.

Mr Wilson John, Senior Fellow

I will miss him. It is impossible for me, and I am sure for many of us, to think and talk about our Chairman in past tense. I first met him in 2002. He called me to his office and I could see here was a man full of zest, a tinkle in his eyes, and he asked me what would you like to do and I said I would like to climb mountains. He laughed and said, okay I will give you a different adventure and since then it has been a roller coaster ride for me and for some of us who joined in the initial stages of the Foundation. He was an incredible person; I have never met a person like him, full of ideas, so full that for many of us who were at the other end of the stick, it was incredible and impossible to live up to his expectations. He drove you into doing things which you never imagine you would ever do…you suddenly learnt that you had four eyes, six hands, four ears…he made you discover things within you which you never imagine existed. It was an incredible experience. He was a very tough task master, his temper was legendary but his generosity outpaced his temper. He would scream at you, he would shout at you but he would ensure that before the day ended you had forgotten everything. That was amazing. To remember about the smallest bits about you and about the activities, all the things which we used to share when we were in Vijaya building, that was where the ORF was in the initial stages. The fact that I have survived in ORF is not because of having any great knowledge of Pakistan, it is because of his immense generosity of accepting other’s opinions, of allowing others to express their opinions and he was an immensely patient listener and he listened to many of his juniors and seniors and gave insights. I believe that life and death is a cycle, there are some people when they go away they take a part of you along with them. I do feel that I have lost some part of me.

Ms Anshu John, Editor

From the day that I entered ORF in January 2004, without exception, each meeting with him and each email that I received was a learning lesson. Both at a personal level and on the professional front, he gave me valuable insights. Once in a rather nasty exchange with a colleague I had dashed off a mail that was not very polite. I had sent a copy to uncle. He wrote to me, quoting a Sanskrit sloka, he said, “One should be more careful in hurling harsh words than in firing sharp arrows. The wounds caused by arrows are healed in due course, wounds harsh words cause are never healed. Pain caused by them recurs again and again because it resides in memory.”

He showed me step-by-step how to organise my work related to ORF publications. On the job there were occasions when doubts would arise; sometimes there would be peculiarly difficult problems to overcome. I would then turn to him. On one such occasion he wrote to me a mail which was simple yet taught me so much. He said: “do not compromise on quality and do what you think is right.” I hope we all at ORF can follow this valuable message and take forward his unique vision of ORF. .

Mr Satish Mishra, Senior Fellow

It is difficult to find the words. I had an association with Mishraji for 25 years. I distinctly remember December 3, 1983 when I met him at Patriot and he asked me, “What can you do?” I said, “Sir, I can write”. He said, “Bring a piece to me on the Lebanon crisis.” The next day I went and gave him the piece. He saw it and he said, “Satish, aap mujhse do mahine baad miliyega. I am busy in setting up technology at Patriot, Mrs Gandhi is going to inaugurate it and I will come to you after that.” Later, when I went back to him, he took out the piece, gave it to his PA, Sushil and asked him to type it. He then gave it back to me and asked me to update it. The next day it was carried in the Patriot. Since then association never ever lapsed. Every moment that I was confused, every instance that I sought guidance, Mishraji was with me. And then from Patriot I went to many institutions but I kept in touch with him. He was guiding me. I went to Tribune and when I told him that I am going to retire, he said Satish you have done enough and he said come back to where you belong. Then for the last two years we were working together on politics of India. He had a remarkable instinct to understand Indian politics and in few words he could always predict what direction the Indian politics would take. Then he said, “Satish let us set up something which can diagnose the political health of India.” It is a massive project and I am at loss how to go about it in his absence. I can only promise that I shall strive my best to come up to his expectation; whatever I can do I stand committed to him.

Mr Niranjan Sahu, Fellow

I don’t know how to say a few words about my nearly five long years of experience in observing and learning from this great man. When I actually came for the interview, I vividly remember, I had a very exhaustive two-hour interview with Mr Subash Kashyap, Mr Wilson John and Mr Ajay Prasad and after that I was told by Mr Ajay Prasad to go and meet Mr Mishra. I had heard a lot about him; he did not even say hello or anything. He said, “Write in 500 words about what qualities today’s politicians ought to have in them.” Suddenly, without any introduction, it was a difficult thing; I did not know what to do. Then I just came and sat before a computer and within one hour I handed over it to Mr. Jayan. I was told to join immediately as a Research Fellow. That made me curious and seriously look at what I had written and for which he gave me a very good salary and designation, which I did not demand. Then I had my first interaction, which was very cordial unlike the first one. I have not come across a man who can inspire such confidence. Whatever research I have been doing in ORF I attribute it to him. It was because of his insistence that today I am doing research on affirmative action for which I got the Asia Fellowship and for which I am now going to Malaysia. So, I don’t know how to express my gratitude. My privilege was that I had an interaction with him last July when we did a workshop with students of Delhi University. Mr Mishra had invited me to his residence and I had almost two hours of interaction with him and Mrs Mishra about the summer workshop and how we can actually move ahead and do lot of other things. I promise that we will all carry forward the legacy he has left behind and we will recommit ourselves and put our best to make him proud wherever he is. He should see that we are worthy of his trust. I must say that it was a worthy experience in life to have spent more than four years with him and attending these Monday morning meetings. That is what I think I will be missing because on every topic he had a new idea and I don’t think I have come across a person who can synthesise diverse things and put them so succinctly and leave an impact.

Mr Paul Soren, Research Fellow

There are no words that can bring comfort and fill the void which he has left. He was more than just a wonderful person; he was also kind and considerate to us. I just had few interactions with him during meetings, especially the Monday mornings and occasionally at times in his chamber. He was certainly a very hard task master and he was a very great critique. He was a great person who encouraged young researchers. I recall in all his speeches or meetings he used to encourage the young researchers to work and I would say that there are several young researchers who had done great work being in ORF and also after moving out of ORF. I think we know that his passing away will not only leave a void in our lives but in the hearts of all those who knew him as well. We are certainly very deeply saddened by his loss but we will always cherish the memories of the past and pray for his soul to rest in peace.

Dr Arjun Sengupta, Member of Parliament

It is very difficult for me to say anything about RK. He was not my boss, he was not my senior, but he was my personal friend. When I first came back from the United States in 1964 we were all left-wing people. Not many people know how strong a left-wing ideologue RK was. When I met him, he was with Link and associated with major left-wing intellectuals like Chittaranjan, Nikhil Chakravarty, and of course Aruna Asaf Ali. He called me through some friends and asked me to write. We became great friends. On every issue we talked and discussed. I still remember one great thing that he mentioned to me which I think is the most crucial thing in his life which Rasgotraji pointed out. He saw everything, but his focus was not missing as a result of which he could be with friends, he could be with advisors, he could be talking to people who are totally different with different point of view but you still got something from him. On this point itself I had many arguments--how can you talk to this man, how do you have this kind of relationship with this man, and he would say that you Left people have one major problem that you are all sectarian, you don’t believe that everybody has something which can be used. I saw in my lifetime how people from different walks of life really sought him out, asking him for advice It was surprising how Indiraji used to talk to him, call for him, AN Haksar was another person, but there was a relationship between RK and Mrs Gandhi which has no parallel. Then he was very close to other politicians. Mohit Sen who was another great intellectual was very close to him. Of course Arunaji…Arunaji was at one point of time totally devoted to RK. At the same time he became close to Advaniji, he was very close to Vajpayee. He became a close friend of Dhirubhai and that was a great event in his life. But he had a very clear idea that he wanted to promote something for the country and he never lost sight of that. I find that this kind of liberal intellectual is missing in our country; who can talk to everybody, get everybody concerned to a particular point of view. This research foundation was created with the purpose of making it into a big think tank and I remember when he first started building it we had long chats with him…but that was not the issue, the issue was he was telling me that he wants it to be a real think tank without any prejudice. He did succeed in building it up. It is very difficult to build a think tank in India. We have many people in our country but very few people can work together. RK was successful in building this institution. I am quite sure if he were alive it would have become one of the first rate institutions all over the world. We shall miss RK and my best wishes to the family.

Mr N K Singh, Member of Parliament

It is very difficult for me formally say something about someone who is so close to me personally We had great moments of joy and happiness, which we shared together discussing matters of public affairs. He had a great sense of humour and a wide variety of keen interests on diverse subjects. He was a man of great detail which Rasgotraji has very rightly pointed out. My association with him goes back more than three decades. In each meeting our relationship only became deeper. I remember he was a man of such detail that he would even decide when he was to come to my house and what were his preferred items or what he would like to be served. You remember Renukaji that whenever I had the privilege of coming to your house, he would tell you that I was coming and what are the kind of things which should be offered. A man of great detail who never allowed his strong commitment to public purpose to wipe out these finer qualities of life, a friendship which I greatly miss, a relationship which I greatly miss. Let me share with you Renukaji, something which you know, but which I would like to publicly say. After I left government, he persuaded me to associate myself with the ORF. One day he talked to me at some length and persuaded me to look for avenues in public life; the beginnings of my effort to try and get into Parliament and public life originates from that conversation which I had with him in which he was he was willing to not only give his fullest advice to you but he would go to the extent of charting out what was in your interest and where you could make a worthwhile contribution. I entirely share with what Arjun Da has said-- the ability to be able to reconcile the contradictions; otherwise how can one think that a person well known for his strong Left ideological slants would in fact become an effective interlocutor for bringing about a whole array of policy changes on economic issues because for him what was good for India was the one overriding objective. I remember that between 1991 and 93, when the government at that time was forced to take many liberal policies, he was a key help; a principal interlocutor. I think that Rasgotraji, you have really summed up very well that with a wide angle, his was a strong telephoto focus on the key objectives. He would always look for ways to better ORF; from the Peterson Institute, from the Brookings Institute; what could be done to draw intellectual talent from all over, what could be done to make this institution a truly inter-disciplinary one, not focusing only one area, but how to enmesh really the different strands of discipline and how to shape public dialogue on policy which would improve India’s capability and ability to become a more important economic power. Believe me, not many know that before he went to Mumbai I had the privilege, which Renukaji knows very well, of spending a lot of time with him; even when he had become physically weak, the thought of what could be done to further improve ORF. I remember that among his innumerable foreign friends from all over, what people like Strobe Talbott and others working with Brooking Institute had told me repeatedly, he had in a short time managed to catapult ORF to the position of an important think tank. Renukaji, we just want to assure you that we share your grief, which is impossible in any way by words; but a minor satisfaction that this personal grief of yours is shared by many of us who had the privilege of knowing him at multiple levels and most importantly at a personal level.

Gen V P Malik, President, ORF Institute of Security Studies

I got to know Mr Mishra not long ago as Mr Rasgotra was mentioning. I think the first time we met was in 1999. I was still army chief, so it must have been during the Kargil war that he visited my house with Admiral Nayyar and at that time how much he was involved with Indo-Pakistan relations and Kashmir, he did not really disclose much to me, but we met off and on. It was only after my retirement that he got to me and one day he asked me would you like to join this Foundation that we are now going to expand in Delhi. That is how I joined with him and since then, of course, one has got to know him much more as a person, as a friend, as somebody who was a visionary, as an intellectual, as a hard worker, as somebody who would keep coming out with more and more ideas, and you really rarely find a person with such a vast knowledge, number of friends that he had, that is how I got to know him in the last few years that I have been with him in the ORF. It is amazing the number of friends that he had all over the world. If I mention a particular name that I know so and so, he would know much more about him. That just goes to show that he maintained his relations. As a friend I can say that I have seen in him loyalty of friendship that is rarely seen amongst people. As far as his hard work is concerned and as far as his intellectual pursuit is concerned, we all know him as a journalist, as a writer, but I can give one example, we were conducting a discussion on defence planning, a subject not many people outside know much except those who have been in this field and I asked him would you like to speak; he said “Should I?” and I said, “Yes, why not?” He said okay I will, this was about two days before the discussion. During the discussion, believe me, the best talk that came from a person during this whole discussion was the opening remarks by Mr RK Mishra -- very candid, very precise, and he had worked on that talk probably only for two days but I know that he worked hard. As Mr Rasgotra, Mr NK Singh, everybody said, I remember him more than anything else as a visionary. All the time flowing with ideas and what ORF is today is his vision. Some years ago Mr and Mrs Mishra and we were having dinner in Srinagar. This is quite a few years ago, Gen. Patankar was commanding the Corps there. Before dinner he asked me, “Can’t we have a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad?” It looked such an impossible thing at that stage and I almost said, “No it is not possible.” Then I said that why not ask Gen. Patankar who was in Srinagar commanding the Corps and Patankar said, “Yes it has its problems but I think it can be done.” There were just four of us and that happened after 4-5 years. I remember him more because of his vision, the way ORF has come up, the way it was conceived, a multidisciplinary think-tank. There was no other such think tank in India at that time. Today, it is counted, you all know that. Everyone of us has learnt a great deal from him and I have no doubt that we shall remember him along with our promises that we should make his dreams come true. I think I would also take this opportunity to talk a little about Mrs Mishra. In the last few years that he has not been well, I have been constantly in touch with him whether he was in USA or in Bombay and just a few days ago when I spoke to him in Bangalore. Mrs Mishra, I greatly admire the companionship that you gave him, the way you looked after him and it is something rare one sees. I just want to say that we share your grief, all of us in the ORF feel saddened but let me assure you that his vision and dreams will be part of us and we will remember him and we will ensure that they come true.

Mr Lalit Bhasin, Trustee, ORF

I am not a very social person, I don’t mix up easily and my wife normally tells me that you do not have any friends except Shri RK Mishra. She has seen us and so has Renukaji. This is a privilege for me to have been counted as a friend of RK. My association with RK does not confine itself to ORF alone. I had known him during the difficult times of Patriot, Business and Political Observer, some of the litigation in which he had been unnecessarily dragged into, any legal issue would obviously be referred to me but it is not just that. Anything involving even political matters in which some legal inputs were required he would always consult me. I would consult him on so many issues because I may not be a politician but I am in politics. He took me as a Trustee of this great institution which he has set up which is recognized throughout the world and people even bracket it along with Brookings and Rosa Luxembourg and so many other institutes. Anything pertaining to the underprivileged, he asked me what we can do to have legal aid for the poor then along with Justice Dave who had retired from Gujarat High Court we brought out publication which is considered to be a monumental work as to how the needy and the poor of this country ought to get legal aid as a matter of right. This is only one of the things. I remember about 7-8 weeks ago when he came here, I think that was the last formal meeting that he had with the trustees and the Presidents or Chairpersons of the institutes that have been set up, possibly he knew that the end was near but he never gave any expression that there should be any detraction from the path which he had laid out for ORF, its trustees and office bearers. He assigned responsibilities, this is what Mr Rasgotra will do, this is what Lalit Bhasin will do, this is what Bharat Goenka will do, this is what we expect from such senior people like Brajesh Mishraji and all that. During his extreme illness also towards the fag end I remember getting a call from him on 18th or 19th of December. He said, “Lalitji, we are having a seminar on Civil Aviation and knowing your expertise in this field pertaining to law I would like you to open up this discussion on this issue.” I was scheduled to leave for Dubai on 22nd or 23rd December, I said certainly I will change my programme, I will change my flight and I will be there. So I along with Rasgotraji led the entire discussion. That was his commitment for ORF, for its mission, I would call it a mission, his vision now is a mission for us and Renukaji I assure you that we will achieve because we remain friends.