WHENEVER you see Hinduism, think of the Hindujas. That at least is how Shrichand Hinduja would want it with his latest offer to plant his name on Britain's fanciest project to mark the millennium.
The Hindujas save a millennium project, but who's paying?
WHENEVER you see Hinduism, think of the Hindujas. That at least is how Shrichand Hinduja would want it with his latest offer to plant his name on Britain's fanciest project to mark the millennium.
Those used to thinking of the Hindujas as controversial arms dealers who haven't seen the last of proceedings against them in a Swiss court, should have heard Shrichand Hinduja in an interview on the BBC's prestigious Radio 4 programme. What he had to say hit the front page of The Times and other newspapers. The Hindujas, the news story went, would produce money to rescue the Spirit Zone within the millennium dome being built in London, a project thought endangered for want of funds.
Shrichand Hinduja (62) was asked in the interview if the Hinduja brothers would put in millions of pounds to rescue the Spirit Zone project. "Naturally," he replied. He didn't stop there. "We firmly believe that multicultural understanding is the biggest problem of the world, so we feel that we should....focus maximum on the multicultural understanding, these differences, and respect one another." Presenter John Humphrys said it was odd that the spirit zone should be rescued by Hindus and not Christians.
The Brits would hardly have let Shri-chand Hinduja preach if he hadn't promised money to save the dome. But is he putting in millions of pounds to save that zone of the spirit? Naturally not, despite what he said in the interview. What the Hindujas are offering is to "underwrite a portion of the project," David Broad from the Hinduja office in London told 바카라. Simple sums say that what the Hindujas have offered adds up to far less than millions.
The whole project is worth six million pounds, and members of four religions will pay for it, Hindus being only one of the four. The Hindujas "decided to go public and let people know they will put money into it," a spokeswoman for the New Millennium Experience Company told 바카라. But the Hindujas are only "one of four groups we are talking to," she said. "The other three aren't willing to go public yet." The Hindujas aren't the only ones paying, they're the only ones talking about paying.
For brothers who have been estimated in those golden lists in Britain to be worth about a billion and a half pounds, the Hinduja offer is a tiny part even of the Hindu portion of that six million pounds. Shrichand Hinduja has not offered to pay for this Hindu portion of the project but to "underwrite" it. This would mean, Broad says, that the Hindujas will invite other people to join them in paying towards this portion of the project cost. "We will create a consortium with others who agree to fin-ance the project," says Broad. The Hinduja commitment is an unspecified fraction of a fraction of the six-million pound project.
But by 'going public' before anyone else chose to, the Hindujas have stamped their name on the spirit zone. This might well be a problem. Indian businessmen are expected to form a major part of the "consortium" to pay for the Hindu portion of the project, says Broad. In effect, most of the Hindu part of the money is expected to be raised from other Indian businessmen.
The Hindujas tried this before with a project they named Concordia—a spiritual theme park in Peterborough, about 70 miles north of London. The Millennium Commission was asked to pay half the estimated 100 million it would need. The Hindujas presented the project as their brainchild, but offered only to "underwrite" the 50 million to come mostly from other Indian businessmen. The money, they said, would be recovered through entrance tickets. But to begin with, it all meant that most of the money would come from other businessmen, and most of the publicity, and control, was going to the Hindujas. Before this became an issue, the Millennium Commission turned down the project.
The Hindujas want to take some of their Concordia ideas to the Spirit Zone. Their model for Concordia had included a central dome shaped like a brain, to tell visitors they were coming in for a mind experience. The entrance was designed to be watery to give the illusion of a "womb experience." Nobody knows yet whether the Hindujas will demand that among other Con-cordia ideas in the new Spirit Zone.
Shrichand Hinduja had said at the launch of the Concordia project: "This is the best way to solve problems in the world. To put before all the people that we have so much in common so why do we have confusion. When they see it they will register that we are all human beings, so we must find a better way of living in the world." The British do not seem interested in the less spiritual side of the Hindujas such as their Bofors cases. The spokeswoman at the New Millennium Experience Company was tactful: "I do not know about these cases, but I cannot say if the institution does." No further word came. So the Hindujas are having another bash at putting their name to something spiritual—it doesn't cost much.