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NEWS: Indian techies project Narayana Murthy for Indian president
Indian techies project Narayana Murthy for Indian president
By Sumeet Chatterjee, Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, May 10 (IANS) The life of India's IT icon and co-founder of tech
bellwether Infosys Technologies has been the stuff of novels - he has
experienced it all.
Once a leftist, he now extols the virtues of capitalism and is the man
behind the emergence of over $10 billion software company that gives
employees stock options and assumes responsibility for creating wealth in
the stock market.
But some in the IT fraternity believe that the suave and bespectacled
53-year-old N.R. Narayana Murthy is destined for much bigger things -- they
want to see him as the next president of India.
The bunch of techies, headed by the chief of Bangalore-based multi-media
company APT Interactive, have launched a Narayana Murthy for Prez campaign
through a Web site, narayanamurthyforpresident.org.
Shankar Prasad, chief executive officer of APT, has posted on the web site
an open letter to the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, urging him to
nominate Narayana Murthy as the next president.
President K.R. Narayanan's five-year term ends in July this year. Both the
country's ruling coalition and the opposition are said to be keen on
fielding candidates for the high-profile job.
"The country must be able to look up to the president and must have respect
for the president. The youth of India must be able to emulate the strengths
and values of the president as an ideal for their vision and action.
"Today, none of the political leaders that we read about in the papers bring
out positive feelings in any of us citizens. It looks like the majority of
them have a not-so-clean background and a tainted image.
"Therefore, it is imperative, Mr. Prime Minister, that you must take it upon
yourself as a challenge and submit the nomination of Mr. Narayana Murthy for
president," says the letter.
Murthy, who has an elaborate articulation of a college professor, last month
passed on the mantle of the Nasdaq-listed Infosys Technologies to his deputy
Nandan Nilekani.
Nilekani will now raise his profile in day-to-day management while Murthy,
the elder statesman of India's IT industry, will remain chairman and double
as "chief mentor," spending time in a leadership institute the company has
founded.
The campaigners, who describe their online venture as an independent
citizen's initiative, list Narayana Murthy's credentials and point out that
he has got a slew of international and national awards.
"As the Chairman of Infosys and as a leading citizen of India, he has
already hosted many heads of state and world leaders and he himself has been
written about in major international magazines, and is a recognizable name
in many parts of the world.
"He speaks eloquently about issues both global and local. He is a man of
character, integrity and simplicity and we can find no one better who loves
India and wants to make India a global leader.
"But more importantly, Mr. Prime Minister, this will be the MOST apolitical
nomination that you can make and there are very few men or women of Mr.
Narayana Murthy's caliber to compete for this post today," says the letter.
Narayana Murthy has been awarded the Liberty Award by Switzerland, has been
named the Top 25 Global Executives by Times/CNN, is listed as the Asia's
Influential 50, and is a member of Prime Minister's Task Force on IT.
"By nominating and electing Mr. Narayana Murthy to be the President of
India, Mr. Prime Minister, you will once again redeem our faith in the
Presidency and elevate the position of the President of India to a
respectable function, rather than just a political appointee who is more
often used as a rubber stamp or for cutting tapes in functions or for
hosting foreign dignitaries when they visit our country," it adds.
The campaigners have posted a list of 60 patrons - most of them from tech
firms and none of them electors - on the web site and urged other netizens
to "register" their support for the campaign.
They have, however, made it clear that Narayana Murthy, his wife Sudha
Murthy or anyone associated with Infosys are in no way associated with the
"private initiative taken in public interest."
--Indo-Asian News Service
