The passing of Ratan Tata has left the nation mourning not just an industrialist, but a rare leader who transcended divides, representing the ‘Idea of India’
The year was 2000 and the list of Padma Awardees sent to the Rashtrapati Bhawan had included a list of super achievers. The scholarly constitutionalist in President K R Narayanan went through each name carefully, as he always did. The list had included luminaries like Pandit Hariprasad Churasia, Prof J B Bhagwati, Rajnikanth, Tarlok Singh etc., but one particular name brought a smile to the face of the otherwise reserved and ultra-correct Rashtrapati K R Narayanan, and it was the name of the-then relatively young, 63-year-old Chairman of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata.