New Delhi: Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu took to social media on 29 July, to draw a comparison between the BJP and Congress leadership after the Union government appointed Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to a task force to investigate paper leaks.
“Modi-ji appoints Nandan Nilekani, who contested the 2014 elections as a Congress Party candidate, because the government respects his experience leading Infosys and Aadhaar and so many other projects. Priyanka-ji attacks IIT Madras Director Prof Kamakoti, under whose leadership IIT Madras has emerged as the top tech institution in India and has spawned a vibrant startup ecosystem. One of them is a classy leader,” wrote Vembu on X.
Vembu, the co-founder and chief scientist of Zoho Corporation, is a tech entrepreneur who actively comments on public policy, education, and manufacturing. This time, his post comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday that a high-powered task force headed by the former UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani would recommend steps to make India’s examination system leak-proof and technology driven.
Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and chairman of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, has worked with the union government earlier too, when he set up the Aadhaar ecosystem and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).
In his post, Vembu points out that Nilekani had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Bengaluru South on a Congress ticket and lost. He says that despite his affiliation with the Congress, the BJP has chosen to rely on his expertise.
He contrasted this with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s criticism of professor V Kamakoti, who has been the director of IIT Madras since 2022. On 28 July, Vadra referred to Kamakoti as a “gaumutra (cow urine) expert,” for his comments during a 2025 speech on Maatu Pongal. In his speech, Kamakoti recounted the story of sanyasi (monk) who recovered from fever after drinking cow urine.
Kamakoti described cow urine as “antibacterial, antifungal, and good for digestion” drawing in criticism from several scientists and politicians who accused him of spreading “pseudoscience”.
(Edited by Aakriti Handa)