The lack of inclination among Bengalis to become entrepreneurs was a result of "intellectual arrogance" remarked Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, a member of the British of Lords who is of Bengali origin.
Bhattacharyya, a graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, is an engineer, educator and government adviser, who famously persuaded the Tatas' to purchase a then ailing Jaguar Land Rover, which has now become one of the most profitable companies in Europe. He is the founder and chairman of Warwick Manufacturing Group, an international role model on how higher education and businesses can work together, which is a part of Warwick University in the Midlands of England.
His expertise is the automotive industry and in the 1980s he helped Margaret Thatcher, then British prime minister, to revive a sinking car making sector. He is often described as "the most eminent Indian in England".
Speaking as chief guest at a lecture on Dwarka Nath Tagore, Rabindra Nath's grandfather, at an event hosted in London by the Tagore Centre on Sunday evening, Bhattacharyya went on to say the Bengali attitude was "we don't do business". Dwarka Nath was among India's first entrepreneurs, but his descendants desisted from entering business and instead followed intellectual pursuits, which have come the ideal for Bengalis.
Delivering the lecture on Dwarka Nath, Sumit Mitra, a senior Indian journalist, highlighted the fact that his Nobel Prize winning grandson Rabindra Nath harboured an antipathy for his ancestor. Mitra has been carrying out extensive research on Dwarka Nath in London, Scotland, Delhi and Kolkata since 2009, with the object of writing a definitive book.
Dwarka Nath died in London in 1846 at the age of 52.
