Ratan Tata didn’t hail from Assam but was more than a son for the state, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

Himanta Biswa Sarma said during his tenure as Assam’s health minister he connected with Ratan Tata

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Ratan Tata didn’t hail from Assam but was more than a son for the state.

While sharing his memories with Tata in a column in Indian Express, Sarma said during his tenure as Assam’s health minister he connected with Tata. “We connected through Operation Smile. The Tata Trust was leading this medical mission to provide life-changing cleft lip and palate surgeries to fix facial deformities. Ratan Tata suggested that the Assam government provide a matching grant to scale up this endeavour. We readily agreed and the project turned out to be a huge success,” the Assam CM wrote in IE.

Ratan Tata died at a Mumbai hospital late on October 9. The chairman emeritus of the Tata group was 86.

Sarma shared how Tata laid out his vision of a path-breaking cancer care model that did not rest simply on constructing grandiose hospitals. “Today, this blueprint is manifesting itself as the Assam Cancer Care Grid, a network of 17 cancer care hospitals in the state. With Rs 3,500 crore investment, of which Rs 1,180 crore was made by the Tata Group and the rest by the government, over 3 lakh people have availed the best of cancer care at nominal prices in their home state,” stated the Assam CM.

Sarma said one of the striking attributes of Ratan Tata was that he remained true to his words. When Sarma went to Mumbai to personally confer him with Assam’s highest civilian award — Assam Baibhav — he instructed N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, that the group must do something “very significant” for Assam. “Assam was indeed recognised by all when the Tata Group decided to invest Rs 27,000 crore in the Jagiroad Semiconductor facility, which aims to manufacture 48 million chips every day for Bharat. This upcoming plant, of which Ratan Tata was the driving force, will propel Assam into a major technological hub and marks the most significant private sector investment in the entire Northeast India, post-Independence,” Sarma wrote in IE.

Sarma said he was “simply struck by his steadfast commitment to Assam”. The CM said Ratan Tata didn’t hail from Assam but was more than a son for the state. “I can vouch for the fact that, at times, Assam’s welfare stood above the profitability of his own enterprise, and this is what endeared him to the people,” he wrote in IE.

He also shared how when Tata Tea was on the verge of selling its tea gardens in Assam there was anxiety among his family members from the tea garden community who had an emotional attachment with the Tata Group. “I requested Ratan Tata to reconsider this sale. A few days later, he telephoned me and conveyed his standing instruction to the group, that even if Tata’s faced financial losses, they were not to divest their tea gardens,” said the Assam CM.

According to Sarma, for many, including him, Ratan Tata’s life is an inspiration and holds valuable lessons. “His (Tata’s) courage to invest beyond traditional comfort zones and redirect the frontiers of opportunity towards the neglected areas of Bharat, places him as one of the finest nation builders of all times,” said the Assam CM.