Tata group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata and West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra were locked in a verbal dual on Thursday.
Hours after Mr. Mitra had said that the business doyen has ‘lost his mind’, Mr. Tata tweeted that Mr. Mitra has a very ‘fertile imagination’. The war of words started over Mr. Tata’s remarks that though there is “unbelievable change in terms of buildings and development…there is not much sign of industrial development.” He made the comment referring to the stretch from the airport to a hotel via Rajarhat on the eastern fringe of the city on Wednesday. He had also said that while the Rajarhat area had seen ‘unbelievable change’, it still looked like underdeveloped countryside.
Speaking to journalists about Mr. Tata’s comments, the State Finance Minister said that Mr. Tata ‘was not briefed properly’.
“He does not know about the expansion of his own group companies in West Bengal,” said Mr. Mitra and gave a list of investments of the Tata group in West Bengal. “Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had told the Chief Minister in Mumbai that 20,000 additional jobs are being created in the State. TCS is also getting a State Government project but Mr. Tata has not been updated,” Mr. Mitra said. He further said that Tata Metaliks has applied to the State Government last week ‘to expand’ their operations. “Moreover, a huge project of Tata-Hitachi is on in Medinipur,” said Mr. Mitra in an information technology summit here, organised by the Confederation of India Industries (CII).
“He (Mr. Tata) has retired, and he should continue with his hobby of flying aeroplanes, instead of making such comments,” Mr. Mitra further added.
Tata’s responseThe Chairman Emeritus of the Tata group clarified that he did not comment on the industrial development of the State except for the stretch that falls under his drive from Airport to the hotel.
“I saw lots of industrial and commercial development but not much industrial development,” he tweeted, and said that the Finance Minister’s comments are ‘surprising’.
“Mr. Mitra might believe I have lost my mind. I would be delighted if he could show me what industrial development projects I missed while driving through Rajarhat. If he cannot, then I would have to conclude that he has a very fertile imagination,” Mr. Tata signed off.
The West Bengal Finance Minister was not the only one to take on Mr. Tata for the remarks. The State’s Urban Development Minister, Firhad Hakim, also joined him in taking a dig at Mr. Tata.
“Mr. Tata should join politics before making such comments…we don’t need a certificate from Ratan Tata, even a blind person can see the development that has happened around,” Mr. Hakim said. The developments in the day, however, provided a fresh opportunity to the Opposition in West Bengal, who charged the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) of destroying industry in the State.
