Shri Murli Deora Memorial IMP Pairs

The 63rd Winter National Bridge Tournament starts on Saturday with this iconic event. The annual IMP Pairs, hitherto called the Niranjan IMP Pairs will now be named the Murli Deora Memorial IMP Pairs. As a personality, he is so huge that it is impossible to do justice to him in a few small paragraphs. However, we shall try and present a few facets to remind us of him in a different light.

Most of us are aware of Shri Murli Deora as the Petroleum Minister of the country at the start of the 21st century.  The industrialist and social worker-turned-politician began his innings from the Bombay Municipal Corporation way back in 1968 when he was elected corporator . Later, in 1977, Deora was elected mayor of Mumbai with Shiv Sena’s support.

A lot of us are also aware that he was an afficionado of Bridge, a game he picked up in his college days. A number of luminaries have graced the bridge table at his home on weekends starting from Ashok Jain (the Times Group), Hemendra Kothari (D S Parbhoodas / Meryll Lynch), Deepak Parekh (HDFC), Sarthak Behuria (Indian Oil Corporation) to name a few. This author has also had the good fortune of occasionally gracing his table. It was fun to see the opinion makers of the country let their hair down and truly enjoy themselves in this game.

Murliji embodied many characteristics which are noteworthy. He was one of the few politicians who stood by Mrs. Gandhi through her worst times in her political career without any consideration of personal gains or loss. This kind of loyalty is rarely seen anywhere today. Even in our bridge circles today, the number of teams which have had players playing with them for long stints can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Murliji, from his early days, was a forward looking personality. Right from the mid 1990s, he took it upon himself to  spread computer education all around the country. The first one was started in Mumbai in 1997 and over 50 have been established all round India, imparting computer education free of cost to poor students. The Bill Gates Foundation has been an active supporter of this activity.

Murliji entered the field of politics to be of service to the people. And some of the work he has done is truly touching, being as it were without any political gain in mind. In October, 1998, a young lady, Jayabala Ashar, was pushed off a running train while fending off the attacks of a drug addict. She lost her legs in the process. Murliji was unable to express his grief when he met the lady.   He ensured that she was fitted with appropriate prosthetic limbs at no cost to her.

The Shri Murli Deora IMP Pairs Tournament actually commenced last year when his wife, Hema Deora (a top class bridge player herself), sponsored a bridge tournament in his memory. This year, it has been incorporated as a part of the Winter National Tournament and will take place annually.

We invite all of you to participate in this event in huge numbers and celebrate the memory of a truly classy gentleman who had the flair of a debonair and a heart of gold.