Infosys founder-chairman and chief mentor, N.R. Narayana Murthy in an interview with Shantanu Guha Ray of Tehelka:
“It is extremely important for India to be a secular country. Every section of society must feel that they belong to society, that they are first-class citizens.
“If we start looking at ourselves in terms of a minority, there are zillions of kinds of minorities in this country! I speak Kannada at home, I am in a minority. If I speak English outside, I’m in a minority. If I’m an engineer, I am in a minority. I can go on creating differences. On the other hand, what is common between you and me is how we can work together.”
Read the full interview: ‘Rich can’t live in a make-believe world’
churumuri 
Devil will quote scripture and churumuri will quote nrn. Ee thara oNa Vedanta keLkonDU prapancha ekkuThOgide.
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51 – 49 majority and minority, 50:50 equal….in political circles after the difference is one percent…in politics these words are doing more harm to the society; politicians by repeatedlu uttering these words they always want to drive a wedge. Really no minority community/class worry about these things. They go on doing their work and try to eke out their livelihood. There is no meaning in using these words again and again.
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I think, Chrurumuri, while quoting NRN has missed the message. He is suggesting that we don’t single out points of difference amongst us, but take cognizance of points of similarity. That is what blending with society is all about, instead of sticking our like a crow amongst fantailed pigeons. But, more often, churumuri provides space for people who want to advance identitarianism on the basis of religion, language, dress, nicknames and what have you? Recent example is Sujata Rajpal’s article which invited no insignificant amount of comments.
Heed NRN’s advise!
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Gururaj – Pray why should I heed NRN’s advice?
Please read the whole interview carefully. I’m reminded of harkol. These people see nothing but economics as root of cause and effect.
Read his views on Kashmir. What is he saying essentially? That Kashmiris will give up on “azadi” and welcome Hindus back if they have jobs. It’s that simple. They want independence because they don’t have jobs!
This man talks about Secularism and he wants to deflate a National Society into minority bits. I’m never surprised when a Secularist says this.
But I’m always surprised when Nationalists buy into such utter nonsense.
You say, “That is what blending with society is all about, instead of sticking our like a crow amongst fantailed pigeons.”
– And I agree. However, do you realize how absurdly impossible this goal is? How does a Muslim “blend” with Hindu Society?
Moreover that is not what NRN is saying. He is not talking about blending at all. He is talking about putting the National Society in a slicing and dicing machine so that it becomes undifferentiable from other de-jure minorities. He is talking about the National Society giving up its unique place in this country by so weakening itself that its constituents then have no option but to say…”Hey, now we are all really equal and all are real minorities!” It is then that NRN thinks the New Man will arise.
NRN may have achieved a lot in business…but here he knows not what the hell he’s talking about.
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Well said Sisya…This is Ona Vedanta indeed!
This dude should learn to respect the National Anthem first. He is one fellow who stopped the Indian National anthem from being played in India just because there were some goras in the crowd.. NRN should stop pontificating…and not harbour any intentions of being a future president…like Kalam etc…
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Well, I’ve some boring questions – Who exactly is the minority? Are muslims minority in Kashmir? Are Christians minority in Kerala where they are almost equal in numbers with Muslims and Hindus? Are Christians minorities in Nagaland? In Mizoram? Probably your answer is yes to all of them. So, I ask again – Are Sikhs minorities in Punjab? Apparently, the Punjab and Haryana HC thinks otherwise.
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Dear Palahalli,
Wow! That was quite an earful! I plead guilty that when I commented, I hadn’t read full text of interview. My limited point is that NRN has pointed to a tendency to cultivate and nurture minorityism on some frivolous ground or the other. I am not commenting on the other points.
Amongst Hindu nationalists, there is a school of thought that Muslims and Christians are Hindus who have been hijacked by the imperialistic ideology of these semitic religions. Amongst muslims, we get to see and hear the Rich and the Religious leaders, who mostly trace themselves to their foreign ancestors, the Ashrafs. Vast majority of population belongs to Ajlafs and Ajral, who are of Indian origin, the last being equivalent of untouchables. Islam sits lightly on them. The solution is to cure Muslims of Islam. But, Tableigh movement is working in the opposite direction – to cure the muslims of unislamic practices.
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I observe that Palahalli is still peeing all over the place, non-stop.
“Secularist versus Nationalist”
As though those who are secular are not Nationalists i.e., have no sense of Nationalist feeling for the nation. Assholism at its worst.
The sad part is that in India, the typical angry middle-class-middle-aged Indian (e.g. Palahalli) thinks that one who is secular is essentially an ‘anti-Hindu’, i.e., a practicing Hindu cannot be a Hindu if he is “Secular”.
Some rascals try to paint a picture as though anyone who feels that in a country as diverse as India, the state must be separated from religion completely, is a ‘secularist’ (which is a baaaaad thing!!!!!) and is therefore, unpatriotic.
If there is a war tomorrow, I (and people like me) would get themselves conscripted if the need arises. Whereas the typical hypocrite rascal middle-class-middle-aged Indian would pee in his pants. And these scum of the earth talk of nationalism and patriotism.
More later..
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ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತರು ಯಾರು?
ಬರಿ ಈ ರಾಜಕಿಯದ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಮುಸ್ಲಮಾನರು ಕ್ರಿಶ್ಚನ್ ಮಾತ್ರ ಕಾಣತಾರಾ?
ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರು ಅವರವರ ಸಮುದಯವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಹೊರಗೆ ಬಂದರೆ ಅವರು ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತರು ಆಗತಾರೆ.
ಆದರ್ ಅಲಹಾಬಾದ ಉನ್ನತ ನ್ಯಾಯಾಲಯ ಕೊಟ್ಟ ತಿರ್ಪಿನ ಪ್ರಕಾರ ಮುಸ್ಲಮಾನರು ಉತ್ತರ ಪ್ರದೆಶದಲ್ಲಿ ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯತರು ಅಲ್ಲಾ. ಇದನ್ನು ಒಪ್ಪಿಕೊಳ್ಳದ ರಾಜಕಿಯ ಪಕ್ಷದವರು ಅವರನ್ನು ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯತರೆ ಅನ್ನುತ್ತಾರೆ ಅಂದರೆ ಎನು ಅರ್ಥಾ?
ಹಾಗಾದರೇ ನಿಜವಾಗಿ ಅಲ್ಪಸಂಖ್ಯಾತರು ಯಾರು?
ಅದಕ್ಕೆ ನಾರಾಯಣ ಮುರ್ತಿ ಯವರು ಕರೆಕ್ಟಗೆ ಹೆಳಿದ್ದಾರೆ.
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NRN was referring to the Brahmin’s, as minorities. Churumuri missed the point!
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Bhavananda – “Minority” is very much a theoretical conception. It is an idea that gets created to bolster Secular-Liberalism in Multi-Cultural Societies. As to who is a Minority and where depends on the politics of the day and not really on lending credence to HC judgments.
Gururaj – Wrt NRN finger-pointing at others who cultivate “Minorityism”..what do you think he himself has done? He goes several steps forward and asserts; everybody is a Minority!
Vinay – Really, being a Nationalist need not only mean being a Hindu who loves his culture and his civilization and will protect his land primarily to protect this great heritage. A Nationalist can be a very Territorial animal who may not really bother about what that territory consists of but will fight to protect it’s boundaries nevertheless in the name of ensuring freedom and doing one’s duty towards one’s “Motherland” etc. Nothing wrong with that but one need not confuse this with the other.
And I assert, Secularism weakens not just Nationalism but certainly the more positive Civilizational attribute that I just spoke about. This is so because as you’re post proves to me yet again, a self-confessed State Secularist does not limit it’s influence to the Governmental sphere but will want to bring it down to the Individual and Society becoming Secular. There is no question of a “practicing Hindu” in this case! How can this creature be “Secular” if he is a practicing Hindu?? “Practicing” only in his home??
And don’t worry about the war. I will be right beside you with my rifle raising the war cry “Jai Bhavani’!
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Majority of the so-called Hindu nationalists making anti-minority comments on Indian blogs are in the United States of America! The irony is that 99% of them are Green card holders who gets that after they renounce Indian citizenship and swear to bear arm against any nation including India in case of war. So much for being Hindu nationalists!
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Naveen – What “anti-minority” comments are you talking about? And show us the data for your deduction.
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