It’s so refreshing to see captains of Indian business and industry trying to bring our politicians to senses—both subtly and loudly. Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and his parliamentarian and philanthropist wife Sudha Murty sent a subtle message to the Siddaramaiah-led government in Karnataka last week. The much-acclaimed couple refused to participate in Karnataka’s socio-economic and educational survey. Their explanation was that they didn’t belong to a backward community and so didn’t want to participate in it. What they didn’t say in as many words was articulated loudly by another business leader Mohandas Pai, former Infosys CFO and Board member, albeit in a different context.
Commenting on Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge’s criticism of the Andhra Pradesh government for giving “huge incentives” to Google for its $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam, Mohandas Pai wrote on X: “Compared to the benefits and huge high paying jobs, this is very small. In Karnataka, Ministers are more bothered about Caste, caste surveys, appeasement, not growth, development, good jobs, technology. They are taking the state backwards. Borrowing money for freebies.”
Another global business leader and Biocon founder, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, has been waging a relentless campaign to get the Karnataka government to focus on Bengaluru’s infrastructure crisis—from potholes to garbage and traffic. Pai and many other entrepreneurs are with her in this battle.
And how are our politicians reacting to India’s industry captains for telling the government what it has been elected for? Karnataka minister Santosh Lad sought to give it a political colour, questioning: “Will she post against Union govt too on issues like GST?” A typical politician’s way of evading responsibility and accountability!
Lad has learnt it from his boss, though. When the couple didn’t participate in the caste survey, CM Siddaramaiah said, “The Central government will also conduct caste census in the coming days. Will they still not cooperate? They may be showing such disobedience due to the misinformation they have.”
Disobedience! As per the Karnataka High Court ruling, participation is voluntary but political ‘masters’ expect obedience from their ‘subjects’, nonetheless. “Should Infosys (founder) mean ‘Brihaspati’ (intelligent)?…. Just because they are Infosys, are they all-knowing?” Siddaramaiah said in a jibe at the Infosys founder. Who would know better than our politicians, of course? People like Narayana Murthy only know how to create wealth for the society and jobs for the youth. Our politicians know how to distribute taxpayers’ money as doles and freebies to retain power.
Amid a public outcry over traffic congestion in Bengaluru last month, Siddaramaiah wrote to Wipro founder chairman Azim Premji, urging him to allow vehicular movement through the company’s campus to reduce congestion on the outer ring road. The wily politician was being clever by half. Under attack for his government’s dismal failure to find a solution to the traffic mess in Bengaluru, it was Siddaramaiah’s way of passing the buck to business leaders, virtually saying— ‘why don’t you do it?’. Maybe, the next time he wants to silence his critics, Siddaramaiah should try what Amrish Puri (acting as a CM) did in the film Nayak—offering to make Anil Kapoor (a journalist in the movie) ‘ek din ka CM’. He can try giving the CMship for a day even to his deputy, DK Shivkumar, if not to an entrepreneur. But Siddaramaiah won’t. Not because he has seen how things end in the movie but because he can’t give up the chair even for a day if he can help it. You can check with DK Shivkumar.
Also read: Siddaramaiah junks Oppn prediction about Shivakumar taking over. ‘Will remain CM for next 2.5 yrs’
No motivation
What makes Siddaramaiah angry with wealth and job creators? After all, they are only asking for the bare minimum from the government—clearing garbage, decongesting roads, and fixing other infrastructure problems. That’s the minimum one expects from a government. These business leaders are speaking for the aspirational class— from Bengaluru and beyond.
India’s youth have seen through the politics of social justice that caste census is supposed to ensure. Bihar had a caste survey three years back. What did the youth get? All that the Nitish Kumar government did was to raise the reservation quota to 65 per cent, which was predictably struck down by the Patna High Court. It has been eight months since the Telangana caste survey was released. All that the Revanth Reddy government did with it was to introduce 42 per cent reservation for backward classes in local bodies; it has been stayed by the Telangana High Court.
What will the Siddaramaiah government do when the latest caste survey results are out? He will do something similar about the reservation quota and so will the judiciary. Siddaramaiah may hope to gain from the survey, though. With the actual strength of the Vokkaliga and the Lingayat communities estimated to go down, the survey result may help the OBC leader beat down many of his political challengers. That’s social justice for Siddaramaiah. At 77, he has no motivation to listen to what the aspirational Karnataka or India wants. He won’t change his politics. And that’s why calls for governance and accountability by industry captains irritate him and his colleagues.
On Wednesday, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw posted on X: “We are in this dire situation because of past Govts failure to act in time. This Government has the opportunity to change this n act fast to fix these decades of deteriorating infrastructure n garbage management. (sic)”
She is expecting too much from Siddaramaiah. His is as good as a past government. Guess how Siddaramaiah would respond to her? “What is now in the past was once in the future,” he would tell her, wouldn’t he? My apologies to another eminent Bangalorean, historian Ramchandra Guha— and also 19th century English legal historian FW Maitland— for the Karnataka CM giving a new meaning to his profound observation.
Disclosure: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Narayan Murthy are among the eminent investors of ThePrint. Please click here for details on investors.
DK Singh is Political Editor at ThePrint. He tweets @dksingh73. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)