Click to play videoNew Delhi: Infosys chief mentor Narayana Murthy is in the middle of a controversy following his comments on the National Anthem.
It all started with President Kalam's visit to the Infosys campus in Mysore on Sunday. As per protocol, the National Anthem was played out, but it was an instrumental version.
Later at a press conference, Murthy explained that it was done to save his foreign guests from embarrassment.
"The original idea was to have five youngsters sing the National Anthem. Then I felt we had several foreigners and we did not want to put them in an embarassing position of them being silent and others singing it, so we decided on the instrumental version. This was fine because the National Anthem need not be sung always. The important thing was to show solidarity and our respect," Narayana Murthy had said.
The clarification saw an almost immediate reaction from local newspapers and several bloggers calling Infosys rootless and a company just interested in profits.
On Monday a section of the Karnataka Assembly too expressed outrage saying the incident was an insult to the culture of Karnataka and the National Anthem. The state government now says it will seek a report on the matter and decide on legal action.
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