"His life is an inspiration to every Indian": Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia pays tributes to Ratan Tata
Oct 10, 2024
Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh) [India], October 10 : Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia paid tributes to veteran Industrialist Ratan Tata on his demise and said that his life is an inspiration to every youth and Indian.
Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, passed away at Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai aged 86 on Wednesday.
Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Scindia said, "Today is a sad day for the whole country. The true son of India, Ratan Tata is not with us. His life is an inspiration to every youth and Indian. His firm willpower, his capacity to take risks, his firm resolve and he used to invest in things others were scared to invest in."
"His entire life was spent in raising the flag of not only Tata Group's but the whole of India. Be it acquisition in England, Tata Steel's acquisition, Jaguar, Land Rover acquisition, or the production of the cheapest car for the common man in India, Tata Nano, for Ratan Tata ji, the customer was always in the first row and profit came the last. It is the experience of every person with him," he said.
He further described his personality that he was not only a big businessman but also a person with a soft heart. His love for animals, humane thinking and ideology, his dedication towards his fellow employees, he has left behind an inspiration for all of us to follow all these principles and values.
"I myself have had a personal relationship with him. I had an opportunity to meet him for the first time when I was 10 years old in Mumbai. The relationship between the Tata Group and Tata family with the Scindia family is generations old. When Sir Jamsed Ji Tata was setting up Tata Steel, my father's grandfather Madhav Maharaj (I) had given him monetary support. His son JRD Tata when he started Air India in 1942 before independence, my grandfather Jiwaji Rao Maharaj along with him put Gwalior on the map. My father also had a close relationship with him and I had a 40-year relationship with him," Scindia said.
"When I first came back from Harvard University as a banker, I met him many times. In 2016, we had invited him to the annual function of Scindia School. He won the heart of each and every young boy, he went to each and every table of the exhibition. There was a huge craze to have a picture with him. So, Ratan Tata did not belong to one generation, he belonged to every Indian," he added.
Remembering the relationship with Tata, Scindia said that it was a personal loss for him as his well-wisher and guide was no more.
"The whole of India is in grief and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole world is also in grief. Ratan Tata Ji, you were the gem of India. You will remain the gem of all India and you will always live in our hearts. I pray to God to give him a place in his court," the union minister concluded.
Tata, born on December 28, 1937, in Mumbai, was the Chairman of Ratan Tata Trust and Dorabji Tata Trust, two of the largest private-sector-promoted philanthropic trusts in India. He was the Chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, from 1991 until his retirement in 2012. Then he was appointed Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons.
He was honoured with the country's second-highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2008.