Its Bharat vs India

Bharat vs India

The Economic Times

Subtext of Gowda vs Narayana Murthy
The resignation of Infosys chairman and chief mentor N R Narayana Murthy from the chairmanship of Bangalore International Airport Ltd is the latest salvo in the war between Bangalore’s IT industry and former prime minister Deve Gowda. That Mr Gowda thinks nothing of hurling assorted accusations against a man of Mr Narayana Murthy’s iconic stature points to some fundamental problems that go beyond personalities.

There is no love lost between the IT industry and the Karnataka government, particularly after the present coalition assumed office. And Mr Deve Gowda has done nothing to remove the industry’s fears. On the contrary, he has stepped up his attacks on the IT industry in general and Infosys in particular, charging them with land-grabbing and breaking promises. Mr Gowda’s consistent efforts to increase the heat in this battle are politically motivated.

His party is still reeling from the expulsion of the former deputy chief minister, Mr Siddaramaiah. Mr Gowda needs to do very well in the forthcoming panchayat elections if he is to keep his party with him. And he believes he can get rural support by presenting the IT industry and its icons as the big, bad urban grabbers of the land of poor peasants.

Whether this cynical tactic will work remains to be seen. But the very fact that an experienced politician believes that it will succeed indicates the extent to which the success of Bangalore’s IT industry is seen to be alienated from the fortunes of the majority. Mr Gowda is painting that success as widening the rural-urban divide in the state.

Bangalore may be the country’s knowledge capital but over 42% of women in Karnataka is still illiterate as per the last census. Successive state governments have clearly failed to expand the state’s education network on a scale that would allow Karnataka’s rural population to benefit from, and contribute to, the boom in the IT sector. Nor is this just a Karnataka-specific problem. The whole country needs a vision that demonstrably gets ”shining India” to illuminate the rustic gloom.