This Indian business tycoon got married 6 times, allegedly had affair with Jinnah’s sister; his name was…, business was…

Among his countless love affairs, Ramakrishna Dalmia also allegedly had romantic relations with Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Ramkrishna Dalmia was one of the wealthiest business tycoons in pre-independence India, a man who rose from humble beginnings, built a successful business from scratch, and ultimately established the Dalmia Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the country today. While Ramakrishna was a highly successful businessman in his professional life, his personal life was a complicated affair, having married six times, and even had a rumored romantic affair with Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Let us find out more about this enigmatic man and life:

Who was Ramkrishna Dalmia?

Born in a small village named Chirawa in Rajasthan, Ramkrishna Dalmia came from a financially-challenged background with his father leaving him zero inheritance. On the education front, Dalmia had little to none, as there is no record of him having attended any school or college after finishing primary school.

At the age of 18, Dalmia began working, and switched jobs working for a sugar factory, a cement plant, paper, bank, an insurance company, a biscuit manufacturer, an aviation company, and even for some publications. However, young Ramakrishna was never content with working for others and wanted to build his own business, and started his own business at a very young age.

Although Dalmia lacked a formal education, his sharp business acumen more than made up for this impediment due to which he was soon able to build a flourishing business that later transformed into a giant conglomerate.

Ramakrishna Dalmia had ties with almost every top leader of the time, including Mahatma Gandhi, and was close friend of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who later sold his bungalow to Dalmia after the 1947 partition. During his heyday, Ramkrishna Dalmia was the the third richest industrialist in India after Jamshetji Tata and Ghanshyam Das Birla, and also owned the country’s largest newspaper group.

Ramkrishna Dalmia personal life

Ramkrishna Dalmia’s personal life was a complicated affair to say the least, with some considering him a “hopeless romantic”, while others dubbing him as a “womanizer. Dalmia had six marriages and countless affairs, allegedly, during his life, including one purported affair with Fatima Jinnah.

In her book, ‘Father Dearest: The Life and Times of R.K Dalmia’, Ramakrishna’s daughter Neelima Dalmia Adhar has given an account of her father’s half a dozen marriages and his romances. “My father considered himself no less than a king, and he also believed in leading a life like one. Whether it was in terms of power or women,” Neelima is quoted as sating in an interview.

Notably, Dalmia’s first marriage came at a very young age, his first wife, Narmada, being mere 12 years old. Narmada passed away a couple of years after marriage, following which young Ramakrishna was married to Durga.

Later, Ramakrishna Dalmia had an extramarital affair with Pritam, a young Punjabi woman, and married her in secret, while still being wed to Durga. This led to a tumultuous situation, following which Dalmia bought an expansive home for Pritam in Delhi. However, his relationship with Pritam soured, after which he married two more times in quick succession.

Meanwhile, even after six marriages, Dalmia continued to romance other women outside wedlock, including a relationship with Dinesh Nandini, an emerging poetess from Rajasthan, whom he fell for at an award ceremony organised by the Dalmia Institute.

Dinesh and Dalmia exchanged letters for two years during which he kept persuading her to marry him. Ultimately, Dinesh agreed on the condition that he would be loyal to her. According to Neelima, the marriage took place in secret at Dalmia’s house in Varanasi.

“But when my mother came to know that this marriage would take place secretly, she was alarmed, but could not do anything. Immediately after the marriage, Dalmia asked her live in London, an offer she refused, following which he bought her a big house in Delhi,” she recalls.

Neelima reveals that Ramakrishna’s marriage with Dinesh faced a lot of opposition from the family, including her mother and brother. But the Dalmia and Dinesh had already tied the knot in secret. “After the marriage, my grandmother met my mother in a train and acted as if she (her mother) had done something wrong.”

After his sixth marriage, Dalmia began the One World Movement, and travelled to the United States with Dinesh Nandini, where he again fell in love with an English woman, and his wife reportedly caught them “red-handed”, according to Neelima.

‘Affair’ with Fatima Jinnah

Among his countless love affairs, Ramakrishna Dalmia also allegedly had romantic relations with Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. According to Neelima, her mother, Dinesh Nandini, often mentioned the close relations between Dalmia and Jinnah’s sister, and often spent time with her because she lived alone.

However, Neelima doubts that her father had a romantic relationship with Fatima Jinnah’s sister, and believes that they were just close friends who found comfort in each others company.

Dalmia’s downfall after India’s independence

After the partition, Dalmia fell into bad times as there was a division in the family. Ramakrishna Dalmia also had bad relations with India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and was jailed for two years. After being released, Dalmia could never regain his once lofty status and financial strength again, and passed away in 1978 at the age of 85.