“In another ten years, what social value will I bring? Can it be measured, quantified, imputed for…? There are lives my life has touched, improved, even bruised. If they get to know, they may remember, with fondness and bitterness.”
Noted economist and member of PM Modi’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) Bibek Debroy, who passed away on Friday morning, wrote the lines above just four days ago for his column in the Indian Express—a veritable self-written obit, you could say.
While it was perhaps inevitable that depressive vibes would sweep over any human hit by a sudden infliction—Debroy was hospitalised for about a month due to acute heart and other health reasons before he passed away the night of Diwali, it would perhaps have been more striking for a man who kept a packed schedule through his many avatars—academic, economist, policy maker, writer, columnist, cultural commentator and more. Those close to him recount what a snappy limerick creator he was.
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The spiritualist in him would definitely have had something to say about the timing of his death, on amavas, a new moon night. Or perhaps, the irony of it also being the most auspicious of all in the Hindu calendar, the night of the festival of lights.
It happens to even the most composed of men, active busy bees who lead a full life; they start questioning their place in the ‘circle of life’, if one were to borrow a pop-culture phrase, when there is a sudden deviation on the expressway, they are on. And Debroy’s bewilderment and anguish at the turn of events, even as he was full of plans at the threshold of his eighth decade on the planet, was palpable—“Irreparable loss at the age of 70, when life’s productivity is as good as ever? In another ten years, what social value will I bring?”
Perhaps Debroy needn’t have worried too much. While most eulogies may refer to his role since 2017 as an illustrious member of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, his contributions went way beyond just economic policy.
A man who wore many hats, he was equally at ease discussing the Puranas and spiritual dogma as he was talking about development models. Incidentally, both—the Purana project whereby he translated the 19 great Hindu epics (including an unabridged translation of the Mahabharata as well as Valmiki’s Ramayana), as well as his (then-considered) subversive act of touting Narendra Modi’s Gujarat as the best-developed state in the country and a model for others to follow while being the head of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Contemporary Studies, just one year into the Congress-led UPA government at the centre back in 2005—did earn him brownie points from the Modi brigade.
The ideological pivot did serve him well, in hindsight. After being forced out of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for his views, Debroy had to bide his time with smaller industry bodies and academia before Modi’s storming to power in 2014 earned him the rightful dividend. It saw him adorn not just the PM’s EAC, but various stints ranging from the NITI Aayog to being part of the Finance Ministry’s expert committee on ‘Amrit Kaal’. He was conferred the Padma Shri after Modi came to power, and a lifetime achievement award was awarded at the US-India Business Summit a year later.
Despite the gloom in his last penned ‘obit’, Debroy’s spearheading of the whole debate about developmental economics, social disparity, etc., may have turned economic discourse in the country into a political slugfest with the ensuing Gujarat versus Kerala model of development debate, was indeed stellar and will keep India’s policymakers and political thinkers in good stead in years to come. The value he contributed is what matters and will be remembered, be it in fondness or bitterness.
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