Cyrus Mistry hits back at being ousted from Tata

THERE have been only six chairmen of the Tata Group since it was founded in 1868. There will soon be a seventh after Cyrus Mistry, the first boss of the conglomerate not connected to the founding family, was ousted after less than four years in charge. Even though he undertook few of the reforms needed to bring vast swathes of the Tata empire to profitability, he will prove a difficult act to follow—not least because he has embarked on an extraordinary rampage against his old employer.

Mr Mistry might reasonably have expected to serve for a couple of decades at the helm of India’s biggest group, with interests from IT to cars, hotels, salt, steel and much else besides. For a company with a culture of consensus, the abruptness of his sacking on October 24th—the board did not even give him the option of stepping down—is about as brutal as it comes. Many of the executives he hired have also been purged. Ratan Tata, his predecessor, will take over while a new boss is found.