At the foyer of a central Delhi hotel last week, as we waited for the cars, I asked our visitor from Mumbai what made Nusli Wadia choose Cyrus Mistry over long-time friend Ratan Tata in this big battle.
“It is the transparent manner in which Mistry conducted himself in the board that impressed him. The support was voluntary and not sought,” said this soft-spoken man.
An oft-quoted reason for Wadia going from being a childhood friend of Tata to being referred to as a general in Mistry’s war room was the misunderstanding that followed the airline foray. Some others also cite the nature of the Bombay Dyeing chief, of never backing out of a good fight.
There is also another dimension to the position Wadia finds himself. One dating back three generations, bringing with it almost a century of family history. It emerges from the side of Mistry’s wife, Rohiqa.
She is the daughter of senior Mumbai lawyer Iqbal Chagla and granddaughter of Mohammadali Currim Chagla, better known as M C Chagla. The senior Chagla was the first chief justice of the Bombay High Court after independence. He served in several important roles such as ambassador to the United States before becoming a Cabinet minister.
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Before he took on these roles, the senior Chagla worked as a junior in the chambers of Mohamed Ali Jinnah, who then had a successful practice in Mumbai. From this perch, Chagla was witness to the rocking love affair and a stormy marriage of Wadia’s grandparents, Jinnah and Rattanbai Petit.
In his autobiography, Roses in December, Chagla recounts how the love between the two, divided by two decades in age, blossomed during a Petit family picnic to Darjeeling, sometime in 1916. “Jinnah then went to Sir Dinshaw and asked him what his views were about inter-communal marriages. Sir Dinshaw, fully off his guard, expressed his emphatic opinion that it would considerably help national integration and might ultimately prove the final solution to inter-communal antagonism. Thereupon Jinnah calmly told him he wanted to marry his daughter. Sir Dinshaw was taken aback. He had not realised his remarks might have serious personal repercussions. He was most indignant, and refused to countenance any such idea, which appeared to him absurd and fantastic,” an extract goes.
Chagla also writes about how a teenaged Dina turned the tables on Jinnah when she chose to marry a Parsi against her father’s wishes. Such intimate details give away the close ties the two families shared, though Chagla did not agree with Jinnah’s two-nation theory.
There are not many public accounts of the ties between the families in subsequent years. Iqbal Chagla, who followed in his father’s footsteps to become an eminent lawyer, despite another interest in journalism, and Wadia seem to have had a different relationship.
In fact, in two high-profile court battles involving Wadia, Iqbal was advising his rivals. The records show Iqbal appeared for the Birlas in the dispute over the Century Mills land (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Bombay-high-court-dismisses-Birla-plea-over-Century-Mill-property/articleshow/34390240.cms). And, argued on behalf of the Rahejas in the latter’s dispute with Wadia over the land holdings belonging to the estate of Framroze Edulji Dinshaw (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Wadia-moves-HC-against-Rahejas/articleshow/2765812.cms).
The bulk of the 18-odd per cent Tata Sons’ shareholding now with the Mistrys can be traced back to Dinshaw. Cyrus’ grandfather, Shapoorji Pallonji, is said to have acquired a 12.5 per cent stake in Tata Sons from Dinshaw’s estate after his death in 1936.
The Wadia and Chagla families, integral part of Mumbai high society, also find themselves on the same note in a musical pursuit. Nusli and Iqbal are trustees of the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation, established in 1995.
Wadia and Chagla now find themselves on the same side again on very different turf. Whether it is because of the family history or despite it, only they can tell.
