Obituary: Keshub Mahindra (1923-2023)

When Gateway House was first conceived in 2006-07, among the list of early natural supporters for a strategic think tank in Mumbai were Keshub Mahindra and his nephew, Anand Mahindra. After the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai, a meeting request with them meant to last for 20 minutes, ran for over an hour. A decision was forthcoming: yes, such a think tank would be supported; a non-profit collaboration in concert with other Indian businessmen. It would be based in Mumbai, but have a pan-India base, similar to the model of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Keshub Mahindra understood the world of foreign policy. Newly Independent India’s political leaders regularly connected with top Indian businessmen to know of and understand the international pulse. India’s socialist path rarely went down well with the West; but entrepreneurial and sophisticated Indian businessmen were always welcome in these – and all – geographies. Their role was “subtle”, and “outside diplomacy.”

Keshub Mahindra was one of those who was well received around the world. He recognised the necessity for global thinking in India. It frustrated him that at the turn of the 21^st century, barely one or two educational institutions offered a PhD programme in International Relations. How could India go global if Indians did not expose their children to the rest of the world?

Indian companies too, he felt, were far too focused on operations and the short term; consequently, it limited their interest in the long term and visionary thinking that could come from a broader engagement with world affairs and understanding foreign cultures. Similarly with the government which, despite its many talented cadres, lacked significant integration between business activities and the formal policy-making structure of the Indian Foreign Service and the foreign ministry.

Gateway House, with its plan to bring the entrepreneurial and pragmatic outlook of corporate India to the country’s strategic affairs, would have to work hard to overcome this. The think tank, he said, must be perceived as “building India’s intellectual infrastructure.”

Keshub Mahindra did more than his part to make it a reality. He called his contemporaries and friends in business and urged them to support a Mumbai-based national effort. It bore fruit. Today, Gateway House carries his imprimatur and his desire for intellectual institution-building in Mumbai with broad support. In the nearly 14 years of its existence, he has always been available to offer wisdom through the ebbs and flows that characterise creativity anywhere. He regularly sent over publications which he felt would bring a valuable dimension to institutional thinking on India’s foreign policy. He also regularly sent, on every International Women’s Day, flowers to the women at Gateway House – a charming reminder that the institution was founded by two women.

Over the years, these efforts and gentle touches have made Gateway House what it is: an entrepreneurial, enduring endeavour of intellectual institution-building in the private sector, outside of formal educational institutions.

In an interview with Gateway House in 2010, Keshub Mahindra said: “My vision for a think tank began in 1950, with a group of like-minded businessmen from the city of Bombay. We said, unless we base our democracy on knowledge, there will be no substance to it. The idea was to feed our leaders with independent information so they can make wise, unbiased decisions. Such initiatives need personalities with will and dedication around whom institutions can be built. That did not fructify; but sixty years later, Gateway House did.”

Gateway House will continue to walk in his path, with will and dedication.

Manjeet Kripalani is the Executive Director, Gateway House.

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