Insulting Ratan Tata: Mamata's men target those who speak the truth

Tata Group's Chairman Emeritus

on Wednesday called a spade a spade during his visit to Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, a state which is not going through the best of times in terms of economic development. He said only residential apartments and commercial activities are being seen in West Bengal but there was not much sign of industries.

Humiliating Ratan Tata is unacceptable

On Thursday, three ministers of the Mamata Banerjee government in the state hit back at the 73-year-old industrial icon in sharp words. While one said age was catching up with Tata, another said Tata is among those who can not see Bengal's good. A third said the people of Bengal had told the CPI(M) "Tata Tata Bye Bye" long ago.

Nothing can be more shocking than the statements made by these three ministers against a legendary figure like Ratan Tata. One of the three ministers even said that Tata has gone mad after losing his chairmanship and challenged him to enter politics. Do civilised people talk like this?

Ratan Tata is anti-Bengal? Then why did he go to Singur for the Nano plant?

If Ratan Tata still feels the pain about the shifting his company's Nano car factory from Singur in West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat, then we can't accuse him of harbouring anti-Bengal sentiments.

As a businessman, Tata had his plans about the car factory but he was prevented from carrying out his plans only because the stubborn politics of Mamata Banerjee, who was the Opposition leader then, stopped him. As a businessman, if Tata appreciates former chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi for his investment-friendly politics, who else apart from the blind loyalists of the Trinamool Congress chief will feel upset?

Amit Mitra too joins the party: A great shock

But it was extremely disappointing to see the finance and commerce minister, Amit Mitra, hitting back at Tata in the way he did. Mitra himself belongs to a world which is not much different from that of Tata and yet he echoed the revengeful tune in which the two other ministers, who have not made the headlines for any positive contribution in the last three years, spoke.

If people like Mitra also fail to rise beyond the shameful obligations of party politics, then one really feels that there is no hope for the state which is sitting on a ticking time bomb in every sense of the term.

Praising Modi a reason to feel jealous

Ratan Tata's words matter because he has faced the music in Bengal and finds little consolation in the fact that a leader who strangulated the state's economic potentials six years ago, is sitting on its chief executive's chair. The shocking attack on him also says how that leadership and its loyalists have hijacked the future of the state which was once among the front runners in the Indian economy.

The criticism also shows how a set of petty politicians feel disturbed at the slightest mention of Modi, who overcame every obstacle to emerge as the leader of the country, and bash anybody who certifies his political and economic leadership.

It was Mamata Banerjee who disrupted Bengal's economic progress as Oppn leader

The example set by Mamata Banerjee's ministers on Thursday has reflected the true colours of West Bengal, its mindset and way of thinking. Not many will feel hopeful about the state's future from this point on, particularly after a giant of India Inc faced his second humiliation inside a decade.