Renowned political thinker and economic expert, Dr Suvrokamal Dutta joined us for an exclusive conversation as part of NewsX India Alist and talked about the tumultuous journey of his past while he is finally about to get into politics full-fledged. Dr Dutta is a renowned media celebrity, foreign policy, political and economic expert and was the youngest team member of the Vajpayee govt. He has also served as the former National Executive Member of BJP.
Sharing about his early days Dr Dutta said, “I used to be very flamboyant right from my childhood. I was vociferous in my debates and public talks. Unlike many, I never had stage fright, I was quite politically conscious and had a tendency to be the leader in class. With that in mind, I thought like I should go into something which is related to public services and public dealings. I graduated in Economics and did my research from JNU in Economic History of India with the Asia Pacific. I also got into student politics at JNU. I joined ABVP in the Marxist bastion which was a big challenge. Later on, I got involved with the Vajpayee government. I used to look after youth affairs and culture for the youth wing. I also used to go for the state elections and parliament elections at that time.”
Dr Dutta mentioned, “Since my career combination is more of business, politics and public relations, I definitely have an urge to get into politics finally. I always had this dream right from my childhood of being in parliament once in my lifetime. That tendency is still there, I don’t know if it will be fulfilled or not. But the way things are going I might have the opportunity to represent the people of India.”
When asked about his career as an expert and commentator in news channels and columnists he said that the latter one started as a thankless job in the 90s. Dr Dutta said, “I was the first one to talk about many concepts like the BRICS, the Shanghai Corporation and IPSA. I wanted to do this for the larger public good. I used to write very good research articles on my area and send them to different newspapers for publication on the editorial page but for almost two years I was not obliged. I always used to get a letter from the editor saying that, “Sorry, your piece was very good but we cannot take this, might be in the next issue.” I remember the first break I got in media was one of the national newspapers in English. That was after two and a half years of struggle and it was just four sentences of my quote. That’s how I started. After that, I got splashed in the media in all the editorial pages of the reputed journals and newspapers.
Adding to that, he talked about his journey in electronic media. Dr Duttta said, “Later on right before 2004, I entered into the electronic media. One of the channels had given me a break in a particular issue that was boiling at that time in relation to JNU. The same happened with other channels including yours.”
Dr Dutta also talked about the B2B business, highlighting Atmanirbhar Bharat. “We have MoUs with Russia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and other countries for doing better business, especially catering to the ease of business and Atmanirbhar Bharat as the prime focus in relation to India.”
To encourage the youth, Dr Dutta advised that there is nothing that can replace hard work. It is the only sustainable approach for the long run even though that comes with its own share of troubles. He advised the younger generation to remain alert and grab every valuable opportunity from the goldmine that India is.
