Narayan Murthy, Sudha Murthy

BENGALURU: Rajya Sabha MP Sudha Murty and her husband, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy, have declined to participate in the ongoing socio-economic and education survey being undertaken by Karnataka govt. Govt said it respected their “personal choice”, but made it clear that it was upset with the decision.Sudha Murty is said to have signed an enumerator’s form in which she wrote that they were “not part of any backward community” and therefore saw “no need to participate” in the exercise. The note was widely circulated on social media.“It’s her choice. As a government, we cannot force anyone to participate. I respect her stand,” deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar said. Labour minister Santosh Lad echoed similar views.However, IT minister Priyank Kharge said: “It’s surprising that an MP makes such statements. Clearly, I think it is inspired by other BJP functionaries. More is expected from people like them because they inspired many generations and continue to do so. Saying that ‘I will not participate in a govt survey’ is not right.”Alleging a divisive agenda behind the caste survey, TV Mohandas Pai, former CFO and board member at Infosys, revealed that he had also opted out. “The motive behind the survey is very different… The whole objective of the caste survey is to divide people, and for the government to show that the population of Vokkaligas and Lingayats has declined,” he said.Former minister Suresh Kumar of BJP hit out at the government over the disclosure of Sudha Murty’s decision to opt out. “The govt had assured the high court that details collected during the survey would remain confidential. By circulating Murty’s note, hasn’t the govt violated its own assurance?” he asked.Karnataka HC had directed the government to ensure that participation in the survey is made optional and voluntary.Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya cited data security concerns. “I don’t trust the government with how my data will be used. The poor will not benefit from this either,” he said.