There's a lack of leadership in the country, says Ratan Tata

“There is a lack of leadership in the country to lead from the front," said industrialist and former chairman of Tata Sons Ratan Tata in a special interview to CNN-IBN’s Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai on the channel’s Leadertalk programme.

“The government is pulling in different directions and we are not consolidating on government,” he adds.

Ratan Tata said he had high aspirations from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s leadership but his government was being pulled in different directions by allies, states and even the forces within the government.

Commenting on the policy paralysis Ratan Tata said that the vested interests had ‘delayed, changed or manipulated the government policies’.

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Ratan Tata says Narendra Modi has proved his leadership in Gujarat and has taken the state to a position of prominence, but he cannot judge what he will do on the national stage, while commenting on the leadership of Narendra Modi.

This is the first time Tata has spoken to an Indian TV channel since stepping down from Tata Sons chairmanship.

On prime minister's silence on investors losing confidence:

“The government has issued policy which the vested interests, quite often in private sector, have changed, delayed or manipulated that policy. So for one reason or the other the government has swayed with those forces. If the policies implemented as those are written, would be good for the country.”

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“A leader must assert himself. I think he is a person who is not given to histrionics or very harsh moves. So that's part of his persona. He has held country's esteem high but at recent times we have lost that esteem. We have lost the confidence of the world. We have been slow to recognise that in the government.”

On kind of person needed as a true leader in today's India:

“Let me answer this indirectly… Lets go back to 1991 we were country of tremendous central control... the brave moves were made at that time opened up the country maybe under pressure... the same people brought that success to India. We had several years of high growth. We became a country that internationally we were looked up to... funds flowed into India. India became an internationally connected country... It's the same team, what has happened in my view is that there have been forces that don't hurt me this will affect x y z... too many competing interests. By and large whatever is happening should be looked at to the benefit of the people of India not to few vested interests in India.”

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On lack of good leadership in the country:

“There are leaders who I've respected all through my life for their public life. But something has happened that has diffused this leadership. We don't have leadership that we have been talking about, that is leading from the front.”

On leadership of Manmohan Singh:

“The issue is has the leadership team stood together and worked together to lead the country forward. My respect for the prime minister continues to be very high. My aspirations what he is able to do is very high. Perhaps the team has not leading in one direction; it was pulling in different direction. States are pulling in one direction, allies are pulling in different direction, many heads of the portfolios in the government are pulling in different directions. We are not consolidating ourselves in the government. We are not any longer looking ourselves as one India. In a way we are Punjabis, Bengalis, Tamils first and Indians second. It's not the way we should be looking at our country.”

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On Modi's leadership:

“I think in Gujarat he has proven his leadership and he has moved Gujarat into a position of prominence. I'm not in a position to gaze what he would do in a country.”

On pressure groups within the government be it Sonia Gandhi's or Manmohan Singh’s views:

“We should have one view... the team has been pulling in different directions; allies are pulling in different directions. We don't have forceful, commutive ideologies today that could bring us together.”

Published courtesy, CNN-IBN