Sir Mirza Mohammad Ismail, K.C.I.E., O.B.E.

Sir Mirza Ismail, Diwan of Mysore visiting Railway Staion Service Centre, Mysore circa 1930s-

Photo from personal collection of Murali

Sir Mirza Mohammed Ismail (1883-1959) belonged to the rare class of great administrators who served various princely states under British India with great distinction. The quality of administration of the princely states had been greatly contributed by men of exceptional caliber like him. Sardar K.M. Panikkar, who was the Diwan of Patiala and Bikaner, was the first Indian ever to get a scholarship to Christchurch and only the second after Romesh Chandra Dutt to get an Oxford first. In the Viceroy’s journal of Lord Wavell, Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, Diwan of Travancore was mentioned as “one of the cleverest men in India”. In 1945, the American Ambassador wrote to the Secretary of State about Sir Syed Mirza Ismail that he “had not met anyone else in India, either Indian or European, who was in his class”.

Born in 1883, Sir Mirza’s remarkable career had its origins in his association with Maharajah Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV of Mysore. Ali Asker, Mirza’s grandfather, had fled the court of the last Shah of Iran and taken refuge under the wings of the Maharaja of Mysore .He trained the royal cavalry and supplied horses to the stable. Sir Mirza's father was Agha Ali Asker, who too continued the family tradition of trading in horses and carpets.

Maharajah Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV of Mysore

After his graduation from Bangalore he started off as an Asst Superintendent of Police with the government in 1905. Mirza became the private secretary to the Maharajah, who had great faith in the administrative acumen of the young man and supplemented it by elevating him to the coveted position of the Diwan of Mysore in 1926. Sir Mirza served the state in that capacity for fourteen years till 1941. Later he became the Diwan of Jaipur (1941-45) and went on to assume the Diwanship of Hyderabad state during the difficult years of 1946-48.

As Diwan of Mysore, he followed the great Sir M. Visvesvarayya’s dream of industrialization. He developed the Brindavan gardens, initiated the first rural electrification programme of India and established the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, besides founding a retinue of other industries. He also established the first medical college of Mysore. He provided irrigation facility to Mandya, Malavalli and T.Narsipura (Irwin Canal) areas. The Jog and Shimsha power station was also established during his premiership.

His contributions to the Indian Science Academy in Bangalore also are worth mentioning. It was his initiatives which helped to get twelve acres of land from the Maharajah for the Academy in which the Raman Institute also is established. The Nobel laureate Sir CV Raman paid eloquent tributes to Sir Mirza in the following words:” For many years, in fair weather as well as in foul, Sir Mirza Ismail remained the truest of friends to me, ever ready to give support and advice. He leaves behind him a memory which will be treasured and cherished by all who have known him.”
Sir Mirza was knighted by the British Government in 1930 for his services to India.

“Sir Mirza’s accessibility and personal charm coupled with his breadth of knowledge and his keen sense of human and cultural values made him a great and highly successful administrator”, so said CV Raman.

The administration of Mysore under Maharajah Krishnaraja Wodeyar and Sir Mirza Ismail was known as the golden age of Mysore, prompting Mahatma Gandhi to call it “Ramarajya”.

The great Maharajah passed away in 1940 and Sir Mirza continued as the Diwan under the Maharajah Jayachamaraja Wodeyar . In 1941, he resigned from his job on personal differences with the government.

Maharajah Sawai Man Singh of Jaipur

Proceeding to Jaipur, he contributed greatly to the State as Diwan winning accolades from all including the British government and the locals alike for his great administrative skills. Soon after his arrival in Jaipur, in 1942, he constituted a committee on Constitutional Reforms. Fondly remembered as the architect of modern Jaipur, his efforts considerably enhanced Maharajah Sawai Man Singh’s reputation and his Durbar in the Congress circles. The main road of Jaipur was aptly named after him and bears the name Mirza Ismail Road, till today. G.D.Birla was a close friend of Sir Mirza who used to fund the grand projects Mirza had for Jaipur. When banks were permitted to open branches in Jaipur, United Commercial Bank, under chairmanship of GD, was the first to be permitted to open a branch there in 1945. The Birla institute at Pilani was upgraded to grant degrees and the National Ball- bearing company was established under guidance from Sir Mirza.The chamber of commerce in Jaipur duly recorded that the regime of Sir Mirza Ismail was “the beginning of the industrial era of Jaipur.”

Lt.General His Exalted Highness Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, Mir Osman Ali Khan
as appeared on Time dated 22 February 1937

In 1946, he became Diwan of Hyderabad , also called Sadar-i-Azam (Prime Minister). He served under the last Nizam of the Princely State of Hyderabad and Berar, Lt.General His Exalted Highness Mir Osman Ali Khan (r.1911-48), who was reportedly the richest man in the world then. Hyderabad became part of the Indian Union in 1948 as a result of the police action, Operation Polo launched by the Indian Government.

He put forth his best skills on the issue of accession of Hyderabad to the Indian government but the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi made the Nizam think against acceding to India. On this issue, Sir Mirza Ismail had quit the government.

Sir Mirza was a Shia Muslim by birth but he encouraged Sanskrit learning, and helped the Hindu and Christian institutions too and attended to the needs of the society with an impartial outlook holding the interest of the state above that of the individual.

There is a Travancore connection too to Sir Mirza. As Diwan of Mysore, Sir Mirza represented Mysore and Travancore and Cochin in the Indian States Delegation to the Round-Table Conference in London during the winter of 1930.

After his Hyderabad stint, Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir had offered him the prime ministership of his state which he declined politely. Sir Mirza retired to his beautiful house in Bangalore. Pundit Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Rajagopalachari and Sarveppalli Radhakrishan were among those who visited Sir Mirza Ismail and often sought his counsel. However, he was quite his own man and never joined the Congress or the government. He was also equidistant from Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He thought that the Partition of the subcontinent was a mistake and had expressed this view to his relatives.

Sir Mirza Ismail has penned his memoirs under the title “My Public Life” published in 1954 before his death on 5th January 1959 at his house Windsor lodge in Bangalore.

It was sad to read about his granddaughter Shakereh Namazie's death under mysterious circumstances in Bangalore in 1991.Her first husband was Akbar Mirza Khaleeli an IFS officer and the Indian Ambassador to Iran, Italy and High Commissioner to Australia. Her second husband Swami Shraddananda was reportedly behind her murder and is serving a life term imprisonment ordered by the Supreme Court of India in 2008.

We need to remember the great contributions made by men like Sir Mirza in giving a strong foundation to India as we were approaching the dawn of independence. Their efforts have helped the nation building process in a considerable way as our forefathers built a great nation out of much chaos and commotion.

Dubai, 12th February 2009.

Ref: The Princes of India in the Endgame of Empire, 1917-1947 by Ian Copland, The cat and the lion by Robert W. Stern, Wikipedia, CV Raman’s obituary on Mirza, Raza Rumi’s post http://www.razarumi.com/, other notes by author.