Sitharaman Rebukes Gandhi Over Tata Dispute

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman publicly rebuked Rahul Gandhi on October 28 after the opposition leader accused the government of “criminally destroying” Tata, escalating a political exchange over a dispute at Tata Sons concerning the reappointment of its executive chairman, N. Chandrasekaran. Gandhi questioned why business leaders had remained silent and said the government was treating Indian businesses as its plaything. He said he and others would seek justice. His comments were made amid objections raised by Noel Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, to the process for approving Chandrasekaran’s reappointment. Sitharaman urged Gandhi to stop politicising the issue, saying it was unacceptable to casually describe commercial and legal matters as criminal. She accused him of repeatedly criticising Indian industry and entrepreneurs and questioned whether he was encouraging business leaders to spread distrust. Those were her characterisations; the competing claims about the Tata dispute’s merits were not independently established in the reporting. The finance minister contrasted the government’s approach to industry with what she described as the Congress’s past economic policies....