India needs more Murthys, no more Gowdas

India needs more Murthys, no more Gowdas

Financial Express

N R Narayan Murthy New Delhi, October 27: N R Narayan Murthy. A name, which has the power to stand-alone, needs no introduction and no explanation. Responsible for making Bangalore a symbol of India's tech powerhouse, the Infosys co-founder and chairman has successfully integrated business with social welfare.


The company has some 46,000 worldwide employees, out of which 22,000 jobs have been created in Karnataka alone, is a subcontractor for many Western companies, provides an array of services, ranging from back-office support to consulting and software development and is the first Indian company to figure on Nasdaq Stock Market in the United States.

But it is definitely not the end of the story. The route followed by this global player is not confined to the growth of IT industry alone. His fight for infrastructure is indeed a vision of economic growth, benefiting all classes and sectors of society.

It was Murthy, who several years ago, led a team of people and started to repair potholes on Bangalore roads. Sharing this platform with Murthy are other IT gurus. Azim Premji's diatribes were launched against the previous Krishna government as well, whose only saving grace was that they did launch several infrastructure projects.


The success of the tech homeland could be very high-flying. US democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry described it as a city, which is 'completely wired'. And 20-member panel of experts convened by the US National Academies issued a warning of fast losing its edge in science to India.


But Karnataka state government's big brother, H D Deve Gowda, treads on a different path. Known as the architect for Third Front politics at the Centre, his swift rise in State and Central politics in 1995-96 was followed by an equally dramatic exit from the position of PM. But today this Janta Dal (secular) supremo holds the keys of Bangalore in his hands.

Pouring scorn and contempt on Murthy, Gowda accused him of indulging in politics at the behest of his bete noire Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna, whom he accused of trying to topple the Congress-JD(S) ministry.

Unleashing a barrage of attacks against Murthy, Gowda sought to dismiss the celebrated technocrat's contribution to the IT sector as also of Infosys, which he built as India's second biggest software exporter. "Nobody is indispensable. He is not a solitary individual who has contributed to the promotion of IT sector."

It's an open war now - politics versus IT-sector. Though it shouldn't have happened but Gowda seems to be the emerging winner. Keeping his political track record in mind - and not to mention his reign as the PM - the booming IT industry maybe heading to a burst.

Is there a solution? Indeed.

Let all the political hotshots shutup and listen, when the Murthys of the country speak. For these are the geek gods who have made Bangalore the Silicon Valley of India.