Who could be India's Obama who could unite the country and march the nation forward at a traumatic time?
US business magazine Forbes feels it is industry captain Ratan Tata.
"While it (India) has the sympathy of the world (after the recent attacks), India could have an Obama moment -- one in which a leader, whose personal history epitomises the country's principles, marches forward to unite the country during its very moment of trauma. India has a chance now to get it right, but it needs a strong, credible leader to step up," Forbes said in a report.
"As an American, I don't get a vote in India, but if I did, mine would go to Ratan Tata," added the report written by Forbes magazine' Senior Editor (Asia) Robyn Meredith.
"He is not a politician, but he is the country's most respected business leader. His Tata Group owns the Taj hotel that was just attacked, but his family is just as connected to India's proud history as its shell-shocked present," Meredith wrote in a weekly column published online.
Posing the question whether should there be not a way to involve Tata at the highest level in the government, the report noted that "a fractured India" would immensely benefit from his acumen and constructive patriotism.
Meredith pointed out, "Should there not be a way to involve him in government at the highest level? A fractured India would benefit immeasurably from his acumen, his managerial skills, and his very obvious--but always constructive--patriotism."
Wondering what if the nation leapfrogged America's approach, the magazine pointed out that the political leap could be as successful as the country's technology jump.
"In a few short years, technology allowed India to go from a land with a 10-year-wait for a telephone to one where even farmers carry cell phones. India could make a political leap that is as successful as its technology jump," Forbes said.
Taj Hotel, the prime target of Mumbai terror attacks was the dream realised by Jamsetji Tata. It came up on the city's water front, after a British-owned hotel denied Jamsetji Tata entry, just because "he was not white".
Writing on the hotel, which was built much before the 'Gateway of India' came into existence, the report said, "It opened just over a century ago and was the first Indian-owned luxury hotel. That is why the attack on that hotel resonates so strongly: The Taj hotel was a symbol of all that post-colonial India could become -- successful, honourable, dignified, strong and admired the world over."
Noting that India is at the crossroads, the magazine said that the nation can "turn to past enemies, to yesterday's memories, or it can look to the future and new hopes that could unite the nation's Hindus and Muslims."
