Whatever his bio-data says – son of a Mysore school teacher; a product of Mysore University - Mr N R Narayana Murthy doesn’t belong here. So it would seem, judging by our deadpan response to this victim of a politically motivated smear campaign. We wouldn’t have, would we, let this go unchallenged, if Mysore and its people count Mr Murthy as one of our own.
Far from speaking up for the Infosys founder, Mysore is mum. What I can hear is the ‘deafening silence’ on the part of our social activist groups, sangha, parishat, and association of citizens, both ‘informed’ and ‘concerned’. A statement of support or a solidarity resolution would have been a socially gracious gesture. Admittedly, Mr Narayana Murthy or Infosys does not need our flag-waving support. But we would have made him feel good by letting him know that we, in Mysore, are with him.
Meanwhile I find the ‘Touchstone’ column in ‘The New Indian Express’ has put Mr Murthy’s case in perspective.
“Whatever he has done for his company or the community had the hallmark of transparency. Yet a senior politician had the gumption to call him names and treat him as if he were a small-time builder and real estate agent”.
A notable aspect is that the columnist, T Bhanu, doesn’t name the politician even once. Which I think is smart. Why dignify unwarranted accusations by naming the accuser.
“Narayana Murthy is a rich man by any yardstick…..he doesn’t have to buy government and agricultural land, convert it in the name of software development, and later on build flats and villas and realize the proceeds….
“…..And if the Karnataka government is not willing, there are other states ready to invite him with open arms”.
Related item: ‘Infosys, a land-grabber?’
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Mr. Narayana Murthy belongs to Mysore. He studied at the National Institute of Engineering, which he holds dear to his heart even today. Mr. Murthy has a
house in Mysore and stays quietly here whenever he comes down from Bangalore.
I do not agree that Mysore has remained deadpan on the Gowda-Murthy spat. Even in Bangalore, it is the press which has reacted sharply against Gowda's outbursts and voiced, correctly, the public opinion.
In Mysore too, some of the local dailies have done it. The Mysore Chamber of Commerce & Industry at its monthly meeting on Oct. 22 expressed its concern
over the impact that Gowda's attack against the Infosys and IT industries may have on future investments in the State and, in particular, Mysore. The
Confederation of Indian Industry has expressed similar opinion. The concern expressed by these two important bodies of Mysore is published in Business
Standard on October 26.
Mysoreans are aghast with the 'politically and caste-motivated' utterances of Gowda. He wants to hit two birds in one stone - Attack IT and Infosys for gaining rural votes in the coming Panchayat elections and attack Krishna and prevent him from returning to State politics. Gowda is really not bothered about the
State.
The land allotted to Infosys in Mysore to build the world's biggest and best training centre remained barren with no takers all these years. It would have
remained so, if Murthy had not taken it from KIADB. As a result of Murthy building this centre, industry has received a boost in Mysore. Foreseeing the prospects of Mysore as tier-2 city, the KSIDC has already pushed up its land price by 200-300 per cent in Mysore! The gainer is Karnataka Government.
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