Forbes thinks Tata can be India's Obama

New York: Who could be India's Barack Obama who could unite the country and march the nation forward at a traumatic time? Ratan Tata, chief of the Tata group of companies, says US business magazine Forbes.


"While it (India) has the sympathy of the world (after the Mumbai terrorist attack), 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 comment.


"As an American, I don't get a vote in India, but if I did, mine would go to Ratan Tata," said the report written by the magazine’s 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.


"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."