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reached an advanced stage, there came a nasty shock. The civil administration

of the princely state had cancelled its earlier permission for the mill without as-
signing any reason whatsoever. This was enough to dampen the zeal of any new

industrialist. But there was no way out except to bow before the will of the Ma-
haraja.

The background for cancelling the permit of the mill was provided by the condi-
tions of political unrest and uncertainty prevailing in British India. There were a

spate of strikes and an eruption of general unrest throughout the country in the
wake of the non-cooperation movement started under the leadership of Mahat-

ma Gandhi. To the Maharaja the opening of a new mill at Patiala meant trouble
from organised labour. Apprehensions in this regard prompted the Maharaja to

cancel the permit for the mill.

Mr. Modi was greatly perturbed over the arbitrary and autocratic attitude adopt-
ed by the civil administration under the Maharaja. It brought home the painful

realisation that life in the princely states meant complete subjugation and hu-
miliation. The sudden cancellation of the licence for the new mill plus the re-

fusal to give licence for the vanaspati unit only accentuated this realisation. The
pleasure-seeking luxurious life of the princely rulers was responsible for the in-

dustrial backwardness of the princely states. In the Punjab, the conditions were
more deplorable. All this aroused in Mr. Modi a keen desire to shift his business

interests outside Patiala.

The proverbial last straw on the camel’s back in this regard was provided by an

incident in which Mr. Sukhdev Sahai, an affluent industrialist from Kanaur (the
birth place of Mr. Modi) was humiliated by the State of Hyderabad. Mr. Sahai had

not only been decorated with the title of “Raja Bahadur” in the year 193I, but had
also lent to the royal heir a huge amount of money in the form of interest-bear-

ing loan. When Mr. Sahai wanted his money back, all that he got was a rebuke
and a flat refusal to pay. To this were added insults to his person. The aggrieved

Mr. Sahai had to run for his life and seek the protection and intervention of Lord
Irwin, the then Viceroy of British India and the Political Agent of the Crown, who

was stationed at Secunderabad. As a direct consequence of this episode, he was

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