Back to the future

Nationalisation was hotly debated since Independence. JRD [Tata] opposed it on several platforms but wasn't invited by the government to present his views. The decision was a fait accompli. Communications minister Jagjivan Ram, who supervised modalities of nationalisation, did consult JRD, but that was about compensation to be given to companies getting nationalised. JRD was disheartened. At a luncheon meeting with PM Nehru in November 1952, he expressed his anguish that the government had intentionally treated the Tatas shabbily, and that it was a planned conspiracy to suppress private civil aviation, particularly the Tatas' air services. Nehru reassured him of no such intentions. In fact, in a letter to JRD, he placed on record the high appreciation he had for the Tatas, who had pioneered several projects....

The government maintained that nationalisation would bring order to the industry, and that the Congress had a policy to nationalise all modes of transport since two decades. In hindsight, the communication between the two stalwarts of Indian polity and Indian business represents perspectives belonging to two ends of the spectrum. It would take six decades to reveal whose viewpoint stood the test of time.

From "The Tata Group: From Torchbearers to Trailblazers"