IANS/New Delhi
A leadership deficit is aggravating the economic crisis in India, Tata Group Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata has said adding that the country has lost the confidence of the world.
In an exclusive interview to television channel CNN-IBN, aired yesterday, Tata said India needed leaders who lead from the front and the prime minister’s team and the political class needed to pull in one direction, and not pursue individual agendas above national interests.
“There are leaders whom 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,” said Tata.
At the same time, Tata said his respect for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh continues to be very high.
“My aspirations what he is able to do is very high. Perhaps the team is not leading in one direction, it was pulling in different direction. States are pulling in one direction, allies are pulling in different direction and many heads of the portfolios in the government are pulling in different directions,” he said.
“We are not consolidating ourselves in the government. We are not any longer looking at ourselves as one India.”
He said Singh has held the country’s esteem high but in recent times that esteem had been lost. “We have lost the confidence of the world. We have been slow to recognise that in the government.”
Tata also said that the government has “swayed” under the influence of vested interests in the private sector and policies have been “changed, delayed and manipulated.”
“So for one reason or the other, the government has swayed with those forces,” Tata said adding that if the policies were implemented as they were written, it would be good for the country.
Tata praised Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi but refrained from commenting on his bigger role in national politics.
“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 gauge what he would do in a country,” he said.
His comments come as the India’s rupee crashed nearly 4% to a new record low yesterday.
The rupee, which lost 3% against the dollar on Tuesday, plunged another 3.86% to close at 68.80 rupees to the US unit, its biggest one-day fall in nearly two decades.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and communists slammed the government over the rupee’s continued depreciation.
“The government has lost control over the economy completely ... they are helpless. The stock market is in free fall and rupee is in free fall,” BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.