Watch: When Ratan Tata confronted a gangster; ‘police were in his pocket,’ industrialist recalls in old video

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Also read: Maharashtra: Ratan Tata conferred with ‘Udyog Ratna’ award by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai The video was originally shared by Columbia Business School on their YouTube channel nearly a decade ago .Tata mentions an incident that occurred shortly after he became chairman, involving a union dispute at Tata Motors. A gangster saw an opportunity to seize control of the union due to its considerable wealth and used around 200 followers to intimidate the organisation.

He said, "the gangster had around 200 disruptive, violent, intimidating followers…but we made a mistake by taking the union for granted…" Tata decided to confront the gangster rather than appease him, even though many advised the latter. He realised that giving in would never end and would result in the gangster taking over the entire operation.

"The police were in his pocket…he demoralised the management with his intimidation tactics," he said. The confrontation led to a strike that halted plant operations, with workers too scared to return.

He stated, "I continued to confront him and he called a strike, stopping the plant's operations…the workers were afraid of coming back for fear of their families." Tata stayed at the plant for three days to dispel their fears, eventually leading to the workers' return and the gangster's defeat. The gangster was later arrested, but upon his release, he allegedly put out a contract to kill Tata.

Also read: Who is Jimmy Tata, Ratan Tata's younger brother who doesn't own a cell phone, lives in 2bhk? Despite calls for reconciliation, Tata never pursued it, and he believes that looking back, he wouldn't have done things differently. “People wanted me to reconcile with him, but we just never did that…looking