Obituary

 Largely A Silent Operator, Ratan Tata Bows Out At 86

Born in December 1937, in pre-independence Bombay, Ratan Tata, the great grandson of the founder Jamsetji, died on October 9^th, 2024, also in Mumbai.

Qualified as an Architect from Cornell University in the US, he joined the Tata Group in 1962 on the shop floor at Tata Steel. At the age of 54, he was handed the top job of Chairman of the Group and Tata Sons, its main holding company. This was by the legendary JRD Tata, who got it approved by the board of Tata Sons, in 1991, when his own health began to fail. Like Ratan, who never married, JRD, though married, was childless.

The year of Ratan’s takeover proved to be both stellar and probably fated. Because it was in 1991 that the PV Narasimha Rao government with Manmohan Singh as finance minister, unshackled the Indian economy, and the Licence-Permit Raj was finally ended. Ratan Tata was able to grow the Tata Group manifold, unfettered by government restrictions, able to invest abroad, taking the turnover from USD 4 billion to USD 100 billion today.  Ratan Tata succeeded in taking a storied but largely domestic company international, largely via a series of audacious acquisitions rolled out at an increasing pace.

And yet, the key to the profitability of the Tata Group under Ratan Tata lay in the revival, expansion and taking public of Tata Computer Services (TCS), in 2004. This was soon after the Indian IT story took the world by storm. Companies like TCS and Infosys became well known in the US and Europe and changed the global image of India. But now we are in the age of AI.

Ratan Tata stayed at the operational helm till 2012, when he turned 75. He continued thereafter to chair the two main Tata trusts Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Ratan Tata Trust which he had controlled since the passing of JRD Tata in 1993. These two trusts together own 66% of Tata Sons and Tata Industries, the other holding company in the group, and wield enormous influence.

Now these two trusts will most likely go to another Tata in the chair, probably Noel Tata, 67, his half-brother. Noel also has three children who bear the Tata name, all in their thirties, and who work in the Tata Group in various capacities presently. Noel Tata is already a trustee in both the trusts.

Ratan Tata returned to operational control over the Tata Group and Tata Sons briefly in 2016, after the ouster of Cyrus Mistry as Chairman of the Group and Tata Sons. This after Ratan Tata had picked Cyrus for the job after great deliberation four years earlier. The detailed reasons about why the falling out happened are not known to the public, and since Cyrus Mistry died in a car crash in 2022 himself, there will probably not be any new information either.

The present Chairman of the operating companies and Tata Sons is N Chandrashekharan, again hand-picked by Ratan Tata from his earlier perch heading Tata Computer Services (TCS). Chandrashekharan has proved to be a very competent manager of the group, and the former architect of the rise of TCS. For the near future, he is likely to stay in place.

Ratan Tata is credited with consolidating the group in the early years after his takeover in 1991. It had drifted into near autonomous units headed by powerful satraps such as Russi Mody whose father had also been Chairman of Tata Sons. There were a clutch of satraps Ratan Tata had to bring to heel, and he did it with his trademark determination and his reputation as a quiet operator. Thereafter, he set about increasing the shareholding of the holding companies in various operating companies to obviate the threat of any hostile takeover. Next, he decided to charge royalties for use of the Tata brand name. After this period of assertion, Ratan Tata became the undisputed leader of the Tata Group and set about a great deal of expansion and diversification. He was also mindful of the Tata values of integrity and trust at all times.

Ratan Tata was very fond of dogs, always keeping a pair of German Shepherds as pets for years, adopting and also looking after strays, providing them dog shelters and letting them sit in the lobby at Bombay House, the Tata HQ and the Taj Mahal Hotel, the group’s flagship hotel. Recently, he set up a hospital for animals, particularly dogs.

In recent years, Ratan Tata also invested in a slew of Start-Ups, partially to encourage young entrepreneurs but also with an eye to potential profits as they develop. A few of his bets paid off handsomely before he passed away. It goes to show that his business instinct was operating well till the last.

Ratan Tata was highly respected nationally and internationally, earning state honours. In his home state of Maharashtra, he has been accorded a state funeral and a day of mourning in his honour. Jharkhand, where Tata Steel operates from, has also declared a day of mourning.

There will no doubt be legacy issues given his many philanthropic activities, the interest in the arts, research, aeroplanes, aviation, with Ratan Tata being a pilot like JRD before him, and India’s progress in aatmanirbhar defence manufacturing in which Tata plays a part. But it will also be interesting to see how the Tata group changes on its way to becoming a trillion USD group in an age when India is to become the third largest economy in the world. This is a far cry from both the world of JRD Tata and his successor for the most part, but something to do them proud.

 (945 words)

October 10^th, 2024

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee

 

 

 

 

Congress Is Front Stage And Centre In Fomenting Anti Modi Government Tropes

Prime Minister Indira Gandhi used to invoke ‘the foreign hand’ as an external interference every now and then. It was designed to stir up nationalist sentiment. But in those days, she probably wasn’t aware of the fifth column that operated in her own corridors of power, with high officials and politicians on the payroll of the KGB and the CIA amongst other covert services.

But we know now that her government of nearly two decades was thoroughly riddled with informers, foreign spies, moles. So much so, one wonders why? Was it because she apparently ran a strong government with a leaning towards the Soviets?

What is the scenario in 2024? We have a cheer-leading foreign agency in the form of the Congress Party now. But it is bumbling and gauche. Earnest as it tries to be, the pathetic thing about its open vitriol and lies is that it routinely falls flat on its face. The desperation is writ large. Nothing it does seems to  resonate with the Indian public beyond its band of the already converted. Even the minorities, their traditional vote-banks, have spread out to back other horses in the Indi Alliance.

This issues ominous portents about its prospects in the forthcoming Jharkhand and Maharashtra elections. Their better showing in the 2024 general elections in June seems to have also come at the expense of their allies - a fact that they are now openly grumbling about. Some are saying the Congress is plain arrogant and predatory, and is out to decimate the regional parties.  

The Haryana electorate has, on its part, soundly rejected it, causing the Congress to snatch defeat from the jaws of a widely expected victory in the exit polls. In J&K too, it fared poorly, and the winning National Conference (NC), its pre-poll partner, is disappointed. The likely NC Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said it was quite capable of forming the government with the help of a few independents. Congress was more or less superfluous with its 6 or 7 seats. It was a warning that it should not expect to determine any of the policies.

After the BJP won a majority on its own, with 48 of 90 seats in Haryana, the prime minister gave his customary and congratulatory speech to the victorious organisers, managers, and workers at the BJP HQ in New Delhi. The help received from the RSS was also acknowledged and praised in various quarters. This win gave the BJP an unprecedented third consecutive term in Haryana.

Prime minister Narendra Modi, halfway through his speech, also used it to thoroughly castigate and flay the defeated Congress Party and its leadership. Amongst a slew of substantial accusations, he spelt out how the Congress Party and its leadership is aiding and abetting a foreign conspiracy to malign and target the present Government of India.

It is well publicised that Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader who is the present Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has been hobnobbing with members of the George Soros organisation and its satellites during his frequent trips abroad. This suggests possible funding as well. George Soros has vowed to bring down the Modi government and what he calls other ‘authoritarian’ governments. A billionaire short-seller that famously shorted the Bank of England in the past, Soros is an elderly Hungarian Jew bristling with a great deal of malice. Somew say he is  a willing instrument of the American deep-state including the CIA. Rahul Gandhi seems to have no difficulty whatsoever collaborating with Soros.

In addition, the entire Gandhi family has signed a secret memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the Chinese at their embassy in New Delhi. The Chinese have reciprocated by investing in the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation which has Sonia Gandhi as its Chairperson. Does China also fund the Congress Party?

In his recent visit to the United States Rahul Gandhi falsely stated Sikhs in India could not wear their turbans and practice their religion in peace. His ridiculous statements, condemned by many prominent Sikhs in India, were endorsed by Khalistani terrorist elements abroad. These included Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a US citizen, who regularly threatens violence against Indians, with apparent immunity and protection from the Americans. India has, in contrast, been accused of trying to murder Pannun on American soil. Again, such elements are Rahul Gandhi’s friends.

The Congress Party routinely incites India’s other minority population including the sizeable Muslim population, Christians, the evangelists that are working with them and in states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, the North East and Andhra Pradesh, against Hindu gurus, the RSS and its affiliates, the BJP, and the Modi government. Rahul Gandhi himself regularly attacks Prime Minister Modi with a torrent of ineffective lies and slander. The fact that his family is renowned for its storied corruption and its pogrom against the Sikhs in 1984, makes splitting the credibility beam difficult.

When Rahul Gandhi is abroad, he is seen conferring with Pakistani activists, those who are against the Indian hold over J&K, other Islamists, elements with links to the ISI, far-left politicians in Britain, and so on. He aptly illustrates the adage that any enemy of the Modi administration is my automatic friend. And yet, for what he alleges is an authoritarian regime,  he is not arrested for sedition when he returns, time after time, after yet another propagandist turn abroad.

This negative bent of mind is largely thought to be fuelled by the Gandhi family’s bitterness at having been kept out of power at the Centre by the electorate for over a decade now. It demonstrates the considerable toxicity abroad, seething with anger at imaginary wrong-doing. The Congress anger is also palpable in parliament, and on the streets here in India. Why is there no popular revolt amongst the farmers, the poor, the Muslims, they seem to be asking in despair?

To some extent the forces opposed to a ‘Hindu majoritarian’ outlook buy into every lie about intolerance, minority bashing, destruction of institutions, cronyism, lack of opportunity, joblessness, rising inequality, communal law-making, and faked economic data.

However, despite the money and expertise poured in, they cannot seem to unseat the ruling dispensation or engineer regime change as elsewhere, most recently in Bangladesh. This is because the Indian electorate is not convinced, and democracy is thriving in India via its stellar Election Commission. The Indian military is strictly apolitical and a coup is unthinkable.

Congress, on its part, doubts the veracity of the EVMs whenever it suits it. It would even have it that India’s growth rates, lauded by the world, are in fact, not true. When we become the third largest economy in the world shortly, the Congress Party is sure to disbelieve and denounce it.

Fortunately, the people of India, unlike some of its friends abroad, do not believe the Congress Party. Now even portions of the opposition INDI alliance are joining in with their disbelief at the farcical goings on led by its crazed joker in chief.

(1,159 words)

October 10^th, 2024

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee

 

Racist America Points Fingers At Tolerant Inclusive India Yet Again

America and its majority White people, descendants of often impoverished immigrants from Europe are unable to shed deep prejudices against its black citizens. Blacks from Africa, brought in as slaves to work the southern plantations originally. Today, 350 years and more later, the innate racism results in a regular stream of unfair arrests and convictions, horrendous murders of young, often innocent Blacks, owing to police brutality and trigger happiness.

America is still subjected to protests, riots, arson, loot, and more loss of lives owing to its divisive ways. But not only is it racist, against Blacks, and increasingly, its Hispanic population, but nurses deep religious biases. It is also rabidly anti-Hindu.

Hate crimes against Hindus, both amongst the Indian-American population and visitors, in so-called easy-going California are greater than those directed at Muslims. This violence is highlighted in a recent report by the California Civil Rights Department. Attacks against Hindus are only second to those against Jews. Muslims come third on the list. Presumably Christians, particularly White ones, are exempt. California may not be representative of the whole country but is certainly one of its most prominent states. And it is not south of the Mason-Dixon Line, infamous for the excesses of the ‘Deep South’ against Blacks.

So every attempt to point fingers at distant India, albeit instigated mostly by people of Pakistani origin or Christian evangelists, fall into the category of brazen and rank hypocrisy. But it doesn’t stop the likes of high officials such as Anthony Blinken, a Jewish Secretary of State himself, from criticising India’s alleged human rights abuses.

Usually, the unfair and mistaken criticism does not come from presidents and secretaries of state, but much lower down the ladder. Though ‘liberal’ Democrat President Obama even used a state visit to India to make anti-India remarks, just before he left for the airport at the end of his Delhi visit.

Most of the criticism comes from fairly obscure lobbies funded by Pakistan’s ISI or China to put out anti-India articles and reports.

The latest report in question, from USCIRF, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, alleged worsening of religious freedom  in India and called for it to be designated a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ (CPC).  

The USCIRF features unknowns and dubious people as Commissioners. People such as Mohamed Elsanousi, educated in Pakistan, Maureen Ferguson, a Christian missionary, Susie Gelman, a Jew, another Christian missionary - Vicky Hartzler, Asif Mahmood, a Pakistani national, and so on.

Anthony Blinken is surprisingly quoted as saying - ‘In India we see a concerning increase in anti-conversion laws, hate speech, demolition of homes and places of worship of members of minority faith communities’. That he is endorsing the complaints of reduced operating room in India for American Christian evangelists, a powerful group in US politics, seems obvious. Blinken seems to have tacked on the rest of his sweeping statement for ballast. But the impression he gives is that he endorses the report sections on India.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs has dismissed the USCIRF report outright. The part criticising India and attempting to spread misinformation was authored by a Muslim Senior Policy Analyst Sema Hasan. The US government, busy improving its engagement with India on multiple fronts, has so far declined to act on the repeated urgings of the USCIRF to declare it a CPC.

It is doubtful whether Hasan and cohorts have any first-hand knowledge of conditions in India. The effort is clearly to malign, using a barrage of false propaganda disguised as a responsible document.

In the recent UN meetings, Tukiye President Erdogan pointedly dropped his mention of Kashmir. This after mentioning it in highly anti-India terms since 2019. This can’t be pleasing to the Pakistanis and others trying to drum up support against India. How many more countries, previously hostile to India, will change stance as India powers its way towards becoming the 3^rd largest economy in the world very soon.

The USCIRF report criticises the Citizen (Amendment) Act, (CAA), probably because it excludes Muslim refugees. Of course, Muslims, including Pakistanis can apply for Indian citizenship by other routes. Singer Adnan Sami did so, and is now an Indian citizen.

The criticism from USCIRF does not however take into account the dwindling Hindu and other minority populations, their deep persecution and worse, in the Muslim majority countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

It talks instead of beatings, lynchings, arrests of religious leaders, homes and places of worship demolished in India. It does not balance its reportage with  reports of Muslim vandalism in Hindu temples, rapes, abductions and murders under so-called ‘love jihad’, attacks on Hindu processions in Muslim majority areas, intemperate threats and abuse voiced against Hindus in  public speeches, mosques, on national television. It does not write about the fact that the minority populations, particularly that of Muslims, has grown substantially over the 75 years since independence. It now accounts for nearly 20% of the overall population of India.  Indian Muslims, no second-class citizens, are prominent in various walks of life in India including the armed forces, the judiciary, the election commission, in government bureaucracies, in the corporate world, in parliament and the state assemblies, in municipalities, the arts, popular entertainment including films, and the digital streaming platforms.

The US chooses to take a blinkered view on occasion officially, probably to pander to its internal lobbies. The problem is with the anti-India portions of the media, academia, and the think-tanks that have made a profession of distributing lies.

Is it any wonder that the MEA dismisses such reports with the contempt it deserves?  

America would be better served if it took the mote out of its own eye, as the Bible advises, and use the clearer vision to set its own fractured house in order.     

(959 words)

October 4^th, 2024

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee