Viren J. Shah
Viren J. Shah (May 12, 1926 - March 9, 2013) was an Indian politician and one-time Governor of the Indian State of West Bengal.
Shah was a member of Lok Sabha from 1967 to 1970 and of Rajya Sabha during 1975 -1981 and 1990-1996. He had served as Treasurer of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Shah was chairman emeritus of Mukand Steel, a steel and engineering company in Mumbai, where he held the position of managing director for 27 years from 1972 to 1999.
Early life:
Viren J Shah was born in a middle-class family at Chittpore Road, Calcutta (now Kolkata) on May 12, 1926, as son of Jeewanlal Motichand and Jayaben. Jeewanlal Motichand had moved in early 1900 to Calcutta where, in Howrah area, he set up a facility for manufacture of aluminium utensils. He quit this business later and in 1939, took over Mukand Iron & Steel Works Ltd. with its factory in Lahore and at Reay Road, Bombay (now Mumbai) jointly with Jamnalal Bajaj at the instance of Mahatma Gandhi. This company, set up by Lala Mukandlal of Lahore, a follower of Mahatma Gandhi, was then on the verge of liquidation and Gandhiji persuaded Jeewanlal and Jamnalal to take over and run it in order to protect the livelihood of its employees. Viren Shah was raised in the intensely political environment of India’s struggle for freedom from British rule. He lived in Calcutta till 1935, when his father left for his hometown in Gujarat and took up the Presidency of Kathiawad Harijan Sevak Sangh and Khadi Prachar Sangh. Viren Shah had his early education in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Nashik and Wardha. The Commerce College at Wardha, where he was a student, was closed by the Government in 1942, following agitation by the students in support of India’s freedom struggle. Many years later, he attended the advanced management programme at the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.
