NRN: Nation needs 4 freedoms to prosper

KOLKATA: Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy on Saturday stressed the need to protect the freedom of faith and expression of citizens for a country to prosper — joining the chorus of writers, artists, filmmakers, musicians and scientists who have called for a vote against hate politics.


Though Murthy did not speak on politics or name any political party, his message to students of

IIM Calcutta

was clear. “For a country to prosper, its citizens must be free from fear and want, and their rights to freedom of faith and expression must be protected,” he said.

The Infosys co-founder was chief guest at the institute’s 54th convocation ceremony. For the first time,

IIM-C

awarded MBA degrees instead of Post Graduate Diploma in Management and PhDs in place of Fellow Programme in Management.

In his address, Murthy invoked former US President Franklin D Roosevelt to say: “No citizen can be made to feel inferior to others. That is why the four freedoms of a true democracy should become the birthright of every citizen of the country, irrespective of his or her religion, region, caste, education level, economic and social class, and language.”

In 2015, barely a year after the Narendra Modi

government

came to power, Murthy had said there was “considerable fear” among the minorities in India.

The Infosys founder also emphasized ‘minimum government, maximum governance’. “Jis desh mein sarkar vyapari hojata hai, us desh mein log bhikari hojate hain (When a country’s government conducts business, the citizens become paupers),” Murthy said, adding that every government that adheres to this adage must resist the temptation of getting into or staying in business.

“Your first duty as a civil servant is to be an impartial regulator and to remove all bottlenecks for honest, law-abiding businessmen and entrepreneurs, in their quest to create jobs with good disposable income and to create aspirational wealth for themselves. Your duty is to ensure that tax collection is maximized through a fair, transparent, honest and hassle-free process for both individuals and corporations,” he added.

IIM-C Board chairman Shrikrishna Kulkarni said the diversity of the country was what held it together. “Sharing knowledge and experience selflessly and seeking honest answers is critical to nation-building… Only in peace is there scope for development,” he added.

Over 200 writers have issued a signed appeal saying: “Let us vote against hate politics. Let us vote for an equal and diverse India.” Among the signatories are Amitav Ghosh, Romila Thapar, Arundhati Roy, Jerry Pinto, Keki Daruwalla, Harsh Mander, Ranjit Hoskote, R Unni, Anand Teltumbde, Zoya Hasan and Girish Karnad. The list includes writers of Hindi, English, Bangla, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Kashmiri and Konkani.