The Govt. had taken away Air India from the shrewd Indian Aviator and a wonderful Industrialist Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata who was also the chairman of Tata Group, however, the govt. had asked him to run it, and then took it away again.

Since, Independence the Nationalization was really a hotly debated topic. JRD Tata opposed it on several platforms but wasn’t invited by the govt. to present his views on it. On the other hand Communications Minister Jagjivan Ram, had supervised modalities of nationalization, and consult JRD for the same,but JRD was disheartened.

In Nov,1952 during a meeting with the Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru , the govt. had intentionally treated the Tatas group shabbily and as it was considered as a planned conspiracy to suppress private civil aviation, particularly with the Tatas’ air services.

Nehru reassured him of no such intentions. In fact, in a personal letter to JRD, he placed on record the high appreciation he had for the Tatas, who had pioneered several projects and the excellent services rendered by Air India International.

In his reply, JRD expressed his disappointment at the government’s decision to proceed with such a major step without any consultations with the Tatas, who were pioneers in Indian civil aviation.

It is said that the govt. maintained the decorum of nationalization that would bring order to the industry and that the Congress Party had the policy to nationalize all modes of transport for almost 2 decades.

Eventually as planned it would take approximately 6 decades to reveal whose viewpoint stood according to the test of time. This is the major drawback and has legitimately impacted the relationship between India’s first prime minister and the greatest leader of India’s largest business house.

The tough pioneer and entrepreneur by heart JRD managed the carrier’s operational aspects with a different perspective on a whole. He took great personal care of passengers, even when fl