Infosys boss ordered out of Karnataka

INFOSYS PRESIDENT, Narayana Murthy, might be a hero for bringing shedloads of jobs to the southern state of Karnataka, but local politicians want him arrested and run out of town for "insulting the national anthem".

Murthy apparently made the huge mistake of playing of the national anthem during the presidential visit to Infosys. Because there were a lot of foreigners who didn't know the words to Jana Gana Mana, Murthy arranged to have an instrumental version of the anthem played instead.

Local hacks asked him why he had broken with the age old tradition of having on-stage singers lead the audience and Murthy made the second mistake of telling them the truth.

Now, according to the local rag, the Vijay Times,, politicians are demanding that the unfortunate Murthy be arrested and outsourced out of the state.

His crime is apparently insulting the national anthem in the presence of the president. It could have been worse, he could have had the national anthem performed by mimes, and Murthy could have told the politicians that he was leaving and taking his huge outsourcing operation with him. Instead Murthy "deeply apologised". In his lowest voice, presumably.

Earlier his spokesperson had pointed out that all the foreigners in the plant could share in the pride of being an Indian by humming along.

However it is more likely that local politicians are waiting for an excuse, however daft, to have a pop at Murthy. The Infosys boss has waded into them on a number of occasions for doing sod all to improve the groaning infrastructure in Bangalore, India's Silicon Plateau, and other parts of Karnataka.

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