India: Rahul Bajaj, the “patriarch” of rickshaws, is dead

In this file photo taken November 7, 2012, industrialist Rahul Bajaj interacts with delegates at the World Economic Forum summit in Gurgaon, India.

He died on February 12, 2022, at the age of 83, AFP - PRAKASH SINGH

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Rahul Bajaj has passed away at the age of 83.

Former boss of the Bajaj company, known in India and Africa for its scooters and tricycles, he was also one of the few to publicly confront the authorities on political problems.  

Advertising

Read more

With our correspondent in New Delhi, 

In India, Bajaj is the name we read every day on the hood of scooters.

All-purpose and indestructible vehicles, these autorickshaws are the mode of transport most used by the common people.

These two or three Bajaj wheels are now also circulating in a dozen African countries, where they compete with Chinese scooters.

The Bajaj company was founded in 1926 by Rahul Bajaj's grandfather, and he ran it from the 1960s for over 40 years before passing it on to his children.

Today, Bajaj Auto is one of the top three manufacturers of two- and three-wheeled vehicles in the world.

The company is also present in household appliances, steel, insurance and banking.

criticism of power

Above all, Rahul Bajaj was one of the few businessmen who dared to confront power.

In 2019, he publicly took on the Minister of the Interior, saying that the business world could no longer criticize the government, for fear of repressions.

The cabal he was subjected to after those remarks certainly confirmed those fears, and since then no other businessman has risen to contradict the authorities.  

If you imagine what the death of Enrico Piaggio (the inventor of the Vespa) meant for Italy in 1965, you are under what the death of Rahul Bajaj means for the Indians.

— 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝑫𝒂 𝑳𝒂𝒈𝒆 (@odalage) February 12, 2022

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• India

• Automotive

• Industry