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Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of renowned Tata Group, today praised Narendra Modi's leadership in Gujarat in an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai on CNN-IBN. However, he stopped just short of commenting on his bigger role in national politices.
"I think in Gujarat he has proven his leadership and he has moved Gujarat into a position of prominence. I'm not in a position to gaze what he would do in a country," he told the channel.
It may be noted that Tata has praised Modi before when the Gujarat government provided land for the Tata Nano project when the company ran into land acquisition trouble with the West Bengal government.
Commenting on the current market mayhem, Ratan Tata was of the opinion that lack of leadership in the country, a leader who leads from the front was what the country lacked.
"There are leaders whom I've respected all through my life for their public life. But something has happened that has diffused this leadership. We don't have leadership that we have been talking about, that is leading from the front," Tata said to CNN-IBN.
He said that it was now time that Manmohan's team and the political class get back on track and put national interest over individual agendas.
Tata opined, Manmohan Singh has held country's esteem high but at recent times we have lost that esteem. "We have lost the confidence of the world. We have been slow to recognize that in the government," he added.
However, he also added that his respect for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continued to be very high. "My aspirations what he is able to do is very high. Perhaps the team is not leading in one direction, it was pulling in different direction. States are pulling in one direction, allies are pulling in different direction and many heads of the portfolios in the government are pulling in different directions," he said to the channel.
Tata also said that we have stopped looking at ourselves as one India. "We are Punjabis, Bengalis, Tamils first and Indians second. Its not the way we should be looking at our country", he told CNN-IBN.
He said that the vested interests in the governments's policy have either delayed or manipulated that policy often in private sector.
"So for one reason or the other the government has swayed with those forces. If the policies implemented as those are written, would be good for the country, he told to CNN-IBN.
