JRD was pained by Air-India takeover

Letters written by Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata and published on the occasion of his birth centenary suggest that the Tata scion was deeply pained by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's decision to nationalise Air-India, then a Tata company.

Terming it "a back-door" approach, JRD in one of his letters to Nehru wrote "…by resorting to incorrect and unfair statements and allegations, he (Kidwai) has convinced the majority of the members of the Assembly ... that the airlines in general, and Air-India in particular, are dishonest and greedy, cannot be trusted, and fully deserve their present plight." Rafi Ahmed Kidwai was then the communications minister.

Air India International (the former avatar of A-I) was set up in 1948 as the country's first joint sector project between the government and the private sector to start an overseas service. Five years later, the government decided to nationalise the aviation business.

When all efforts to get even a decent hearing failed JRD wrote, "… we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we are living in a political and bureaucratic age in which people like ourselves no longer count for much in the scheme of things."

JRD continued as chairman of Air-India till 1978, when his services were unceremoniously terminated by then Prime Minister Morarji Desai.

JRD was re-appointed to the Board by Indira Gandhi after she returned to power in 1980.

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