Ratan Tata had incurred the displeasure of the then PM VP Singh during his career. The matter had reached the point of Tata’s resignation. He had made up his mind to resign, but Rajiv Gandhi did not allow this to happen. This was revealed by Ratan Tata himself in an interview given to Money Life.
It is about those days when Ratan Tata was made the chairman of Air India and Indian Airlines. He told Money Life, “For three years, I was in Air India. Those were very difficult years because Air India was very politicized during that time. We will not talk about it. Those were very difficult years. There were different views. I wanted to resign, but Rajiv did not let it happen, so the day he lost power, I left the post.”
Tata said, “I think I incurred the wrath of VP Singh, who came to power and might have thought it was a reflection on his leadership, but it was not. It was only because of the political ups and downs of Air India that There was an issue of being away. Then things got a little blurry in my mind during that time.”
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Clash with VP Singh government
There was a clash with the VP Singh government, when JRD Tata wrote a strong letter to VP Singh regarding allegations of foreign exchange violations at Tata Zug. Ratan Tata said in the interview, “Bhure Lal (former director of enforcement, Foreign Exchange) was leading an investigation. I don’t think we did anything wrong and at the same time everything was disclosed – it was an issue whether Mata -Whether the child of the father or the grandson of the parent company also required RBI approval was never proved, as they did not get anything which was not disclosed to me. The issue revolved more around Indian hotels rather than Tata, as there were a lot of foreign operations of Indian hotels at that time. Anyway, after 1991, things became blurry in my mind.”
Used to exchange ideas with Rajiv Gandhi
In his interview with Money Life, Ratan Tata said, “I was fortunate to have the opportunity to exchange ideas with Rajiv and be part of the small group of people he meets from time to time in some of these areas. But at the same time, he made me the chairman of Air India. Like many things in the government, I was never asked. At least I was made the chairman of Indian Airlines. But Rahul was abroad. We were not even told that we were being made the chairman.”