Speaking to the Express Group editor-in-chief Shekhar Gupta for NDTV’s Walk the Talk programme, Tata said the mood in the country had swiftly deteriorated within weeks of US President Barack Obama having visited the country and praising it for arriving on the world stage.

“It is a murky time, it is a confusing time, just a couple of weeks ago we were sitting on top of a summit or a mountain top with President Obama showering praise on what we had done, talking about maturity, talking of our having emerged and not being an emerging force,” Tata said.

“And then we have somewhat slipped into a morass of a series of allegations, unauthorised tapes being flooded, the media going crazy… alleging, convicting, executing, literally character assassination… and, in fact, I think, in so doing, there’s been a smokescreen behind what is really the so- called scam,” he said, referring to the spectrum scandal that led to the resignation of Union telecom minister A Raja.

The real scam, the chairman of Tata Group, which also has a large telecom business, said was “out of turn allocation of spectrum, hoarding of spectrum by important players for free and things of this nature”.

“So, I think these are bad times. I wish the government would take a stand, bring order to the thing, have an investigation, book people who are guilty of something, but stop this sort of banana republic kind of attack on whoever one chooses to attack, on a basis unsubstantiated,” he said, adding that he did not use the phrase “banana republic” lightly.

“Banana republics are run on cronyism, people of great power wield great power, people of lesser power or people who have fallen out of power go to jail without adequate evidence or their bodies are found in the trunks of cars,” Tata said. “The danger is that you could degenerate into that kind of atmosphere unless necessary parts of government play their role in upholding the law.”

Asked if he saw evidence of crony capitalism in the country at this point of time, Tata replied he saw some evidence of it, particularly when it came to “large contracts being awarded, conditions of contracts becoming a little vague, eligibility of capability being abused”, among others. He also said he was worried that the image of the country abroad was being sullied and he would certainly be asked about it when he travels overseas the next time. “People on the Internet are well informed about India and will think of India as a scandal-riddled country, which it is not. And you can easily make it that way, you can make everybody’s mindset operate from one scandal to the other.”

Tata was full of praise for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has come under a storm of attack inside and outside Parliament for his alleged silence that the Opposition has said led to the spectrum scandal. And he said he would have no hesitation in telling the Prime Minister about the danger of the country sliding in the direction of becoming a banana republic.

“I would have no hesitation of telling the Prime Minister that because I don’t believe the he is contributing to this. I think he should be concerned about the nation going in that direction. And he is a tremendously good man, we are very lucky to have a Prime Minister like him,” Tata said, adding that it hurt him to see what Manmohan Singh was going through in the light of the allegations against him. “Here is one person who is truly above the allegations thrown at him, his face is the face of transforming India. He doesn’t deserve this kind of humiliation.”

Referring to corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, who is under investigation by the ED for her possible links to the spectrum scandal, Tata said that his group had hired her to represent it in a bid to be heard better and convey its point of view more effectively. “Never once in our association with her have we tried to subvert policy, move policy. Yes, we have advocated level playing fields, we have advocated change of policy through her or directly, but never once have we done something to exploit a political or a policy issue. Never once have we used her to make payments or to seek favours and we have had a good professional relationship with her,” he said.