Congress slams Panchjanya for linking Infosys with Maoists, ISI, China

By Quaid Najmi
Mumbai, Sep 5 (IANS) The Congress' Maharashtra unit on Sunday slammed right-wing publication, Panchjanya, for suggesting that global IT giant, Infosys was allegedly funding Maoists, Leftists and the "tukde-tukde" gangs in the country, and must be "blacklisted".

"Infosys, set up by the Padmashri couple N.R. Narayana Murthy and Sudha N. Murthy, is a globally-respected IT major. Its contribution to Indian economy is also immense. But since the past 7 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sangh Parivar will decide on the credentials of people," Congress state spokesperson Sachin Sawant said.

As the column in Panchjanya created controversy on several fronts, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh quickly dissociated itself from the publication, saying it is "not the mouthpiece of the RSS and the article or opinions expressed in it should not be linked with the RSS".

"As an Indian company, Infosys has made seminal contribution in progress of the country. There may be certain issues with a portal run by Infosys, but the article published by Panchjanya in this context only reflects the individual opinion of the author (Chandra Prakash)," RSS' Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar said.

The magazine article has alleged that "the direct and indirect support of Infosys has come to the fore for many disruptive activities going on in the country", that it is behind certain propaganda websites, and groups engaged in spreading caste hatred are beneficiaries of its charity.

"Shouldn't the promoters of Infosys be asked what are the reasons behind its funding anti-national and anarchist organisations. Should a company with such a dubious record be allowed to participate in government tendering processes," it had asked.

Virtually accusing Infosys of being anti-national, the publication accused the company of deliberately wanting to create anarchy by providing poor services and proving a blot on 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' drive.

The Panchjanya write-up sought that the company should be "blacklisted" and a financial penalty imposed for its poor performance, hinting that Infosys maybe planning to play around with sensitive data of IT payers.

Dragging in the "corrupt bureaucracy" which it alleged is believed to have a big hand in the suspicious activities of Infosys, the columnist said that while Union Finance Ministry officials did nothing to take Infosys to task for the ITR portal glitches, ultimately Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had to personally intervene to set right things that could easily have been done by lower level officials.

"The reason for suspicions of conspiracy with the ITR portal is also political. People are asking whether some private companies are trying to create chaos at the behest of the Congress. Infosys appoints people of a particular political ideology to important position, and most are from West Bengal. If it takes important contracts of government of India, will there not be a possibility of influence by China and ISI," it wondered.

Sawant strongly condemned the BJP, RSS, the Sangh Parivar and the magazine's campaign against Infosys and questioned its locus standi to make such baseless wild allegations against such renowned companies or those not in conformity with its ideology.

(Quaid Najmi can be contacted at [email protected])