Page 51 - Swatantrata to Atmanirbharta : Lokmanya Tilak’s legacy

word of their ‘Doyen’ friend. As a Fergussonian I had a great
satisfaction that I did my duty to repay my gratitude to my alma
mater.
Raja Bahadur Textile Mills

It was founded by Shri Raja Mukundlal Pittie. The title of
Raja Bahadur was given by Nizam of Hyderabad. He hailed
from Hyderabad and wanted to start his Mill in Pune. He
made a courtesy call on Kesri wada and met Lokmanya, paid
his regards and obtained ashirwaads for his venture. Tilak
wholeheartedly welcomed the venture and gave his blessings
as well as assurance of local support. The Mill was founded in
1893. His son Govindraj remained in close circles of Lokmanya
along with Barristers M.R. Jaykar, Jinnah, B.G. Horniman etc.
who were active in Tilak’s Home Rule league. The company
became quite successful in capturing a large part of the Indian
market and its brand of ‘Pune Sarees’ became a best seller in
the country. The Mill was closed in 1990’s and it started its
engineering division. In the recent years Pittie’s started the
grand hotel viz. Le Meridian behind Pune railway station.
Firodiya Group

Navalmal Kundanmal Firodiya was born in 1910. He was
a student at Fergusson College, and became an intimate
friend of Shri. A. R. Bhat, who organized a group of young
Fergussonians, called ‘Young India Activists Group”. Navalmal
became a devoted member of the same. Both Bhat and Firodiya
participated in 1930s satyagraha and non-cooperation movement
of 1932. Navalmal was strongly influenced by Tilak’s ‘Swadeshi
Vrat’, therefore he started wearing khadi kurta, with half
sleeves, dhoti, and cap and that remained his attire throughout
his life. In 1942, he also joined ‘Quit India Movement’ and
was imprisoned several times. He left his roaring legal practice
at Ahmednagar and shifted to Pune, after taking a bait, being
cajoled by a challenge put before him, to undertake the risk of
launching an industry and managing it by making it a profitable
one. He accepted that challenge and in 1950s, he took support
of a German company viz. Vidal and Sohna (which became
Daimler- Benz) and started importing chassis of auto-rickshaws

49 Swatantrata to Atmanirbharata