Ms Murty goes to Parliament

On March 8, Sudha Murty was made a nominated member of Rajya Sabha — one of 12 members nominated by President Droupadi Murmu to the Upper House.

President Droupadi Murmu nominated Infosys foundation chairperson Sudha Murty to Rajya Sabha on the occasion of Women’s Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in a post on X.

Speaking to The Indian Express from Thailand, Sudha Murty said the news of the nomination had taken her by surprise. “I was not expecting it… It is also a happy moment that the announcement was made on Women’s Day. I believe this is a big platform for me. I will definitely try to do my best,” she said.

Over the past couple of years, Sudha Murty has made several public appearances, with her comments — on being a “pure vegetarian” and a woman of “simple” tastes – setting off social media trends and triggering speculation that she may be getting ready for a political debut.

While her husband was at one point spoken of as a potential candidate for a high office, Sudha Murty’s name was being bandied around as a possible choice for the Bengaluru South Lok Sabha constituency, where the RSS and BJP has a strong hold.

“Thank you, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modiji. It is my privilege and my honor to be nominated to Rajya Sabha by our Hon’ble President of India Smt Droupadi Murmuji. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve our nation,” Sudha Murty said on social media in response to a congratulatory message by PM Narendra Modi.

Thank you, Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji. It is my privilege and honour to be nominated to the Rajya Sabha by our Hon’ble President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu Ji @rashtrapatibhvn. I am very grateful for the opportunity to serve our nation. 🙏🏽

|| परोपकारार्थं इदं… https://t.co/VgZ12ApSoX

— Smt. Sudha Murty (@SmtSudhaMurty) March 8, 2024

Born on August 19, 1950, in Shiggaon in Haveri district of north Karnataka, Murty has often spoken of her father, Dr R H Kulkarni, a surgeon who practised at the Government Hospital in Hubballi and other parts of the state, as being a major influence on her life. Her mother Vimala Kulkarni was a housewife.

After graduating in electrical engineering from BVB College college in Hubballi, Sudha Murty pursued a Master’s degree at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, where she received a gold medal in 1974.

She was the first woman engineer to be hired at Pune’s Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO). The recruitment is considered to be a watershed moment for women engineers since it was a letter to JRD Tata objecting to the firm’s ‘only male employees’ policy that eventually led to her recruitment.

BJP leader and former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, also an alumus of BVB College, recalls that when he enrolled for his Bachelor’s in Engineering, Sudha Murty had graduated. “All I knew was her name then – she was the first girl student of our college. It was only after entering public life that I got the opportunity to meet and interact with her. Incidentally, her first job was at TELCO and so was mine,” he says.

Sometime in the 1970s, Sudha Murty is said to have met Narayana Murthy through a common friend. In 1978, the couple tied the knot despite Sudha’s family having apprehensions about Murty, then an unemployed engineer heavily influenced by socialist values and looking to start his own business.

When Infosys was founded in 1981, Sudha Murty stayed with her parents in Hubbali before shifting to Bengaluru.

Murty as the Chairperson of Infosys Foundation. (Express Archive)

In 1996, the Infosys Foundation, a non-profit organisation, was set up with Sudha Murty as its chairperson, a role she executed for the next 25 years. The Foundation has been recognised for its work in eradicating and rehabilitating Devadasis in North Karnataka in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In her book, Sudha Murty writes about her work among Devadasis and says she was “attacked with slippers and tomatoes” when she approached the women involved in the sex work. More than 3,000 Devadasis were eventually rehabilitated. The Foundation also works with schools, villages and hospitals and has stepped in with funds and volunteers during natural disasters.

Former Infosys CFO and chairman of Aarin Capital, Mohandas Pai, who has worked with Sudha Murty told The Indian Express, “She is committed to her work… I still remember when Akshaya Patra opened in Rajasthan, she rolled chapatis for them. She is a humble human being who is able to connect with all strata of society.”

In September 2021, amid glitches in the Income Tax e-filing portal developed by Infosys, the RSS-affiliated magazine Panchajanya accused Infosys and the Foundation she chaired of deliberately trying to destabilise the Indian economy and helping Naxals, Leftists and “tukde tukde gang”.

Sudha Murty retired as chairperson of the Infosys Foundation on December 31, 2021, three months after the article was published.

Murty has more than 30 books and 200 titles to her credit — including novels, non-fiction, children’s books, travelogues, technical books, and memoirs. She is a recipient of the R K Narayan Award for Literature.

Murty speaks during the Jaipur Literature Festival at Clarks Amer in Jaipur on Sunday. (Express Photo by Rohit Jain Paras)

In recent years, her increasing presence on public platforms, has seen Sudha Murty being subjected to intense scrutiny on social media.

Appearing on a popular food show, Sudha Murty said last year, “One of my biggest fears is that the same spoon may have been used for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.” She went on to say she doesn’t eat “even eggs” and called herself a “pure vegetarian”, dividing the Internet with many accusing her of Brahmanical superiority. Yet, many others came to her defence calling her food choices her personal matter.

Earlier, appearing on Kapil Sharma’s comedy show, Sudha Murty narrated an encounter with an immigration officer in London who, she said, refused to believe her when she cited her residential address in UK as 10, Downing Street (the official residence of her son-in-law and UK prime minister), suggesting that the officer’s response was due to her “ordinary sari” and “simple appearance”.

This time, too, she was trolled on social media, with social media users saying that her simple woman image flies in the face of her being one of the richest in the country.

The social media scrutiny was unsparing. Yet, Sudha Murty remained unruffled. Now, as she walks into Parliament as a member of Rajya Sabha, she will be under a new, national spotlight.