Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Shame on you Ratan Tata

I wonder what kind of a world Ratan Tata lives in. He didn't read this???
Or on a more serious note, this?

While my faith in Tata products had been dwindling for some time, my faith in the group, their legacy, what they stood for, had remained. With one move, Ratan Tata has totally shattered that! And brought disgrace to the Tata name.

I guess Mr. Tata has just proved that business comes above everything else, that money matters more than anything else, that the alleged blood on modi's hands doesn't matter to him (it would've to his predecessors), that in his chase for the glory of the Tata group, he has shamed the India that we (& our forefathers & his!) have been fighting to build!

To me & to others like me, he will be remembered not as the man who revolutionized (read debased) India's car market, not as the man who salvaged the fortunes of the Tata group, but as the man who sold India's soul for the sake of his business.

17 comments:

  1. boss by ur logic every muslim countries should stop doing business with USA as bush (according to popular belief) has been butchering muslims.but thats not happening.what sick logic u have that Ratan Tata is a lesser man just by investing in gujrat.

    hope u r not having amul products.

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  2. I wish he had chosen another CM not Modi...and he had a choice. But why are you surprised? Haven't you heard that the habitat and existence of Oliver Ridley Turtles being threatened by the TATA Steel Port (Dhamra port)? Tata don't care for ethics. Green Peace has been crying hoarse.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Ridley

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  3. Politics makes strange bedfellows. Commerce and politics, taken together, even stranger.

    It is sad that Trinamool-sponsored terrorism has driven the Nano into a state where the rule of law is blurred at the edges of the rule of the Gir forest.

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  4. rahul,

    If you'd have read the first link properly, you would've understood my point. There's a list of companies there to avoid. I use Nestle Slim Milk.

    IHM, Anjan,

    Thanks for the support!
    You put it very well Anjan!

    I'd crossposted this on the Mutiny. You won't believe what they did. The pulled it! After 27 comments had been gone up of course! :-D
    But no offence taken. I am attempting to re-write it in a more journalistic vein & resubmit it.
    Thanks again for the support. If someone has Mr. Tata's email id, can they email him & let him know how let-down we feel?

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  5. Your thoughts on this at the Angry Indian?

    http://angryindian.com/2008/10/ratan-tata-moves-from-the-bad-m-to-the-good-m/

    The Angry Indian
    www.angryindian.com

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  6. I use Nestle Slim Milk.

    I hope you are aware of Nestlé's ethics record.

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  7. Dude, don't you think that the kind of response you got on mutiny suggests how wildly impractical your thoughts are ? I mean , come on , I know you have it against Modi , but , what do you have against Gujarat as a whole ? Or would you rather that a business man set up his establishment in an environment which may not be most conducive but is politically/ethically/morally correct ? How many business powerhouses in the country consider these things , according to you ? And I said this on mutiny , and I am saying it again , should no investor set his foot in Orissa and Karnataka ? Do you know that new projects worth $57 Billion have been in a stalled state due to the lack of land and other right elements ? Mr. Ratan Tata may have to answer to his conscience, but he has to answer to his investors for sure .

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  8. Angry Indian,

    I read it. Good points. Thanks for the support.

    Polar,

    Thanks for the update on Nestle. I am happy to give up my daily dose from them. Just one last question. Are they still guilty of these practises or have they managed to resolve them?

    Kislay,

    I got quite a mixed response on the Mutiny. The first comment was in support of my idea & then there were another few. Mutiny attracts quite a bunch of hindutva sympathisers in the comments section. They see us as a voice against them & they deliberately hang around to counter what we say.
    I don't set much store by the comments on the Mutiny.

    As for the word impractical, that's really open to debate. How many things have been considered impractical earlier & then been achieved? Did Gandhiji not boycott all foreign goods?
    Did South Africa not receive economic sanctions for over 2 decades.
    Did these steps not yeild the desired results?
    Did businessmen not suffer in British India or in Apartheid ridden South Africa? Maybe they did? But the greater & far more honourable cause was equality & freedoms.
    Practicality... BAH!

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  9. "Mutiny attracts quite a bunch of hindutva sympathisers in the comments section" . Are you implying that anyone who does NOT oppose Tata's move or questions it on ethical grounds is a hindutva sympathiser ? What exactly is a hindutva symapathiser ? And now you are comparing the decision of an Indian business man to move his factory to from one Indian state to other , which again is ruled by an Indian , and which will ultimately benefit India , to Gandhijee's boycott of foreign goods and sanctions on SA ? How can you not take this into consideration that any move like this creates jobs, even if the jobs are going "hindutva" sympathising gujratis, which again is good for the Indian economy . You cannot say "BAH" to practicality and still live in this world .

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  10. Kislay,

    It's not as simple as that. Did I say "all"? No I didn't. I said "quite a bunch".
    You clearly do not oppose Tata's move, but you're not a hindutva sympathiser, based on what I've seen up until now.

    I am making that comparision. It depends on what matters more to you, capitalist development or social justice. I'm no communist, don't get me wrong, but I would rather Tata had taken his plant to Maharashtra or even K'taka. The jobs would still be in India.
    As for Gujarat, it is motivated to be the way it is right now because of a few factors. If we add a few other factors such as the boycott in the mix, maybe it'll be motivated to behave differently.
    As for my BAH to practicality, I've been saying it for 33 years. I'm more of an idealist. We're the people that cause progress, that bring about good change, not the pragmatists who sit on their haunches & say, "that's just the way it is"!
    There's nothing more disgusting than someone who will not stand up for a cause quoting pragmatism! Cowards all!

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  11. 1con, you use Nestle product? I'm shocked!! Do you know they also own Poland Spring water company??
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9_boycott

    I'm disappointed in you.
    :) :)
    -kaafir

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  12. it is now become a fashion in india to do hindu bashing, even if there is a remote connection.

    ReplyDelete
  13. kaafir,

    I'm glad you considered me worthy of being able to disappoint you.

    Can you please see my response to Polar above?
    Also, while I like quoting freely from Wiki myself, did you notice that this particular article has a neutrality dispute on it? Anyway, the no smoke without fire argument will take care of that I guess.
    My point is just this: Are they still guilty? Cadbury's were in an ants-in-chocolate soup some time back. Then they got their act together. The focus should always be on people getting their act together!

    Anonymous2,

    Don't be an idiot. Please read this:
    http://mutiny.in/2008/10/09/im-done-with-dna/#comment-62108

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  14. 1con, Modi has also got his act together post Gujarat riots in 2002. There have been no more riots there. So what?

    Oh, and do your own research on Nestle and learn to make up your own mind - I'm not going to spoon feed you everything. The neutrality of the wiki article being disputed can mean many things - check the articles in the list of references and figure out for yourself what's right and what's wrong. Though if you really are an "iconoclast" there shouldn't be any doubt.
    -kaafir

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  15. Anonymous/kaafir,

    Really? He's got his act together?
    Has he set right the wrongs that happened (assuming he didn't himself perpetrate them)?
    Has he issued a formal apology?
    If my memory serves me right, he has continued to be belligerent on his hindutva brand of politics (which is what won him the election by the way).
    So, NO, he hasn't got his act together yet. Let him be put on trial, serve a sentence like Yasin Malik, then we'll see if he's got his act together.

    And don't worry about spoon-feeding me anything. You're hardly the type I should be asking for information!

    You should be ashamed of yourself for defending people like modi.

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  16. You may like to read this post by Mahima Kaul on Modi and Tata.

    http://lifeandtimes75.blogspot.com/2008/10/modi-to-rescue.html

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  17. I did. And left a comment there as well.

    ReplyDelete

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