My interaction with Jatin Sheth, who claims to come from Gandhian family

By Rajiv Shah 
Today I was called for lunch by Jatin Sheth, who runs a citizens' organisation, seeking to address people's common issues ranging from poor roads to gutters going berserk. After I told him about my Soviet experiences on his insistence, he said, he wanted a person who could help him out with everything that he was doing -- from writing letters to authorities in English to representing before them. He said he could pay "up to Rs 50,000."

Since I was surprised at the amount he said he would pay, out of utter curiously I asked Sheth if his organisation was registered and from where he would be collecting funds, and whether it was registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act ((FCRA), and he said no. Registration, according to him, is a big botheration, adding, he "managed funds". Belonging to a Gandhian family attached with the Congress in Kalol, a town about 35 km from Ahmedabad, it seemed to me he wanted me to help him out. Before he could make a direct offer, I told him, the days have gone when I was interested in working post-retirement. I just do my Counterview, and relax. I don't want  to be tied up for any work, I added. It don't know if he got the message.
We talked a lot -- ranging from my Moscow experience, my maternal links with 1942 martyr Vinod Kinariwala to why he finds portions of Quran -- as translated by Maulana Maududi -- problematic. He even showed me the Gujarati translation of Quran by Maulana Maududi, whose antecedents we used to question as student activists. Was it a Quranic interpretation? I don't know. 

He was surprised when I told him Bible and Quran had similar stories. However, he regretted Gujarat's progressive Muslims refuse to criticise the manner in which women are treated as second class citizens in Islamic countries. I agreed, problems existed. They had failed to come out of the mullah grip.

Living in a sprawling flat of three bedrooms off Drive-In Road, quite big according to current standards, he said, he got the flat after the old dilapidated apartment in which he lived went in for re-development.

"I was quite active for taking up citizens' cause when I had a shed in the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) estate in Naroda. I was secretary of its association. Ramnikbhai Ambani, Dhirubhai Ambani's brother, helped us a lot... That experience has helped me. I brought a good builder for redeveloping this apartment", he told me.