India has been witnessing its fair share of business family feuds in recent times – from the Kalyanis and Modis to the Hinduja brothers, and now another marquee feud doing the rounds is between the real estate developers, the Lodha siblings. With the rivalry escalating, the mother of warring brothers – Abhishek and Abhinandan Lodha – Manju Lodha finally stepped in to stop the dispute. Manju Lodha, in a letter to the two brothers, asked them to stop their dispute immediately.
In the letter, she wrote, “…I request you to stop all your disputes immediately. As a mother, I direct you:
- You will not say anything wrong about each other.
- You will not fight with each other.
- You have no right against each other’s business or shareholding.
- Neither of you have to give anything to each other.
- You will not interfere in any manner with each other’s business.
- Bring an end to all your disputes, respect each other and try to help each other.”
The letter comes weeks after the two brothers agreed to a mediation as reported on January 31. The family feud had escalated over the ‘Lodha’ trademark dispute, and Abhishek Lodha’s Macrotech Developers had filed a Rs 5,000 crore lawsuit against the younger brother’s firm, the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL). The brand infringement lawsuit was filed on January 20 in the Bombay High Court, to restrain HoABL from using the word ‘Lodha’ in any form, claiming exclusive trademark rights to the name.
The letter was shared by Macrotech Developers on the exchanges.
In the letter, Manju Lodha reminisced, “When both of you were born, I experienced happiness which cannot be described in words – in your form, God had blessed me with a treasure box of joy. There was only a small difference of 1.5 years between the two of you and I myself was only 21 years of age. Both would fall ill together. I would find it difficult to manage all worldly responsibilities while taking care of both of you. But both of you never troubled me. Playing and laughing with each other you grew up together. Brothers like Ram Lakshman’ – my friends would say that all children should be like Manju’s. After education, both of you started work. You got married, had children. You are happy with your families. But time never stays the same – good people also experience bad times. Today our family is also passing through such a period. I request you to stop all your disputes immediately.”
She went on to say, “Your father and I have discussed at length the claims by both of you wrt the shareholding/ ownership of each other’s businesses. The final arrangement within our family was documented in our Amended Family Agreement dated 31st March 2017. We confirm that both of you have no right of any form in the other brother’s business or assets or shareholding.”
Manju Lodha concluded, “As a mother, whatever I own I will definitely leave behind for both of you. I pray that both of you bring an end to your dispute and focus your energy on growing your respective businesses and taking care of your family.”
The dispute dates back to 2015 when the brothers decided to part ways, which was formalised in a family settlement agreement in March 2017.