Maruti-Suzuki – controlled by the Japanese multinational Suzuki, in which Volkswagen holds a 20% stake – is India's largest automaker, with a market share of 45%. But on July 18 he had huge problems with the workers: a riot in his factory in Manesar, in northern India, caused the death of a manager and led to a month-long lockout. At the company's general meeting yesterday, shareholders expressed their opinion that evil spirits lurk in the company and sought divine intervention to eradicate them.
A senior shareholder, Yash Pal Chopra, invited those present, including Osamu Suzuki (the president of the parent company), who had flown from Japan to attend the annual meeting, to recite the 'gayatri mantra', the sacred verses of the Vedic Sanskrit. Another elderly shareholder also invoked the divine blessings of Goddess Durga, saying that the Goddess will remove the obstacles to the growth of Maruti-Suzuki (MS). In fact, the latest MS Annual Report has an effigy of Goddess Durga on the cover. And 'Maruti' is also another name of Lord Hanuman, the monkey-god of the deistic panoply of Hinduism.
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