It began as yet another petition on petitiononline. It was addressed to Messrs, Ratan Tata, Sunil Mittal and Anil Ambani against their endorsement of Narendra Modi. Within five days, as many as some 2500 people had signed the petition. Clearly, the impending sounds of silence became so loud as to be deafening as Ranjan Kamath, whose brainchild this petition was, writes:
In the last 24 hours, TATA Sons have issued a legal notice to me,
demanding that I remove all reference to Ratan Tata and instructing me
to tender an unconditional apology allegedly defamation.
While I have sought legal advice, I shall urge Mr Tata to engage in a
dialogue wth a fellow citizen about the issue rather than attempt to
legally intimidate me with the power and might of TATA Sons.
That TATA Sons responded with a legal notice is sufficient proof that
even a few thousand committed citizens can send tremors through the
portals of India Inc.
This is certainly not the last legal missive I shall be receiving
before January 30th. Also, no effort is being spared to compromise
this petition through fraudulent signatures, impersonations etc.
Jan 20, 2009