Skip to main content

Top ex-Gujarat babu tells Modi: Not yoga but solar system is our biggest source of energy

By Rajiv Shah 

An email alert to Counterview from a top ex-IAS bureaucrat, termed as Gujarat’s turnaround man for revamping loss-making state public sector undertakings (PSUs), has sought to take a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remark on the Yoga day – that the ancient Indian exercise provides an “infinite solutions” within ourselves, offering “the biggest source of energy in the universe.”
The email alert by Alexander K Luke insists, “Actually, no. The sun is the biggest source of energy in our solar system. Other more distant stars emit more energy…” Wondering whether Modi meant by energy “human motivation, the unending desire to do something constructive and bring it to a conclusion”, he tells in a tweet Modi, “Modiji, it is not energy we need but human motivation...”
Known to have resigned from the IAS in November 2006, when he served as managing-director, Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals (GSFC), which he had just turned around, Luke further tells Modi, “You cannot motivate intelligent human beings by threats, fear and greed, you have to appeal to their self worth...”
A 1975 batch Gujarat cadre bureaucrat, Luke was given negative confidential report by Modi despite turning around GSFC even after a top industrialist compared him with Lee Iacocca, who had turned around Chrysler, and Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Ahmedabad took a case study on how he managed to “save” GSFC. Currently, he lives in Kerala, his home state.
Pointing out that this is a major reason why Modi, who rode to power in 2014 by showcasing Gujarat model, “created” by turning around state PSUs, is today unable to achieve success, Luke also seeks to take a dig a some “journalists”, who are known to have asked him: “Sir, Apko itni energy kahan se ati hai, roj 18 ghante kaam karne ki?” (Sir, how do you get so much energy for work for 18 hours a day?). 
He appears to reply back, “As we Indians are not privy to his daily schedule, this may be treated as mere conjecture. Modiji himself has never claimed he works 18 hours daily”, adding, somewhat sarcastically, “He does work hard, and we see him on our screen doing so, mainly announcing some new scheme for our benefit and telling us how much India is ahead of other nations.”
Luke tells Modi: You cannot motivate intelligent human beings by threats, fear and greed, you have to appeal to their self worth
Luke’s tweets, he is no a “worshipper at any altar”, yet he claims, his life actions follow “Krishna's sermon to Arjun, this makes us aware of our own cowardice”, which he calls “the voice of truth, truth which has lived through thousands of years and whispers to all of us, even now... It will continue to guide us if we but choose to listen.”
And what does he mean by “truth”? To quote him again from this tweets, recalling how he revived Gujarat PSUs – Sardar Sarovar, Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd (GACL), GSFC, he says, he did this by overcoming “the obstacles” in ensured that they rode to “glory.” He regrets, however, “This was a truth suppressed in 1996, 1998 and 2003. But it was a truth.”
Luke continues: “I was fortified with truth. Courage comes only if you have truth by your side. Seeking the truth, courage will come as a bi-product… Without truth you will never have courage, without courage you will never revive great PSUs...” He adds, “Truth is not mysticism, religion, high philosophy, or andar ki atma ki awaz, or any such thing. It is not memory's searchlight into the past. It is material reality, the objective situation prevailing today.”

Comments

Unknown said…
Be threatened, scared, or greed are not the traits of an intellectual in first place.
Solar energy harvest is an inefficient process. Moreover, solar cells have a short life. Efficiency decreases as temperatures go up.
What Luke achieved was remarkable . Both GACL and GSFC were looted for decades by our colleagues starting with 1982, he salvaged the companies . Praise for Luke flowed in from all sources . Being whimsical , Modi shunted him to a nonentity posting innRevenue Appeals and he quit . Luke himself is a very intense person . He’s written a book on what miracles he performed whichever post he held . Also a whimsical guy . Which civil servant keeps record of his achievements ?
Preaching to Modi drawing parallels with Krishnas sermon to Arjuna rather than a Biblical allegory is hitting below the belt by a Christian to hard Hindu supremacist . Delicious irony .
Anonymous said…
With this government, it is the fate of any Indian who is good at his work to be shunted to insignificant posts so as to humiliate him and make people forget him and the good he did.

TRENDING

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

Biden urged to warn Modi: US can declare India as worst religious freedom offender

By Our Representative  During a Congressional Briefing held on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), has wondered why the Biden administration should raise issues of mass anti-minority mob violence  -- particularly in Haryana and Manipur -- with Modi. Modi should be told that if such violence continues, the US will be “compelled by law” to designate India as one of the world’s worst offenders of religious freedom, she urged.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Evading primary responsibility, ONGC decides to invest Rs 15,000 crore in sick subsidiary

By NS Venkataraman*  It is reported that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will infuse about Rs 15,000 crore in ONGC Petro-additions Ltd (OPaL) as part of a financial restructuring exercise. ONGC currently holds 49.36 per cent stake in (OPaL), which operates a mega petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat. GAIL (India) Ltd has 49.21 per cent interest and Gujarat State Petrochemical Corporation (GSPC) has the remaining 1.43 per cent.

Sales, profits of Indian firms 'deteriorate', yet no significant increase in cost pressures

By Our Representative  The Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad's (IIM-A's) latest Business Inflation Expectations Survey (BIES), a monthly exercise, has said that while cost perceptions data does not indicate significant increase of cost pressures, sales and profits of the Indian firms have deteriorated.

'State-sanctioned terror': Stop drone attack on Adivasis, urge over 80 world academics

Counterview Desk  A joint statement, “Indigenous Peoples’ Un-Freedoms and Our Academic Freedom: A Call for Solidarity”, endorsed by over 80 signatories, including international academics, activists and civil society organizations, as well as diasporic Indian academics and researchers, working with Adivasi (indigenous) communities in India, has made an urgent appeal to prevent future drone bomb attacks by the Indian state on Adivasi villages.