Narayanamurthy interview

Narayana Murthy, the co-founder and chief mentor of Infosys has this to say about the efficiency of a coalition government in an interview to rediff:

How do you think does coalition politics impact the economy of the country?

You know, this is the issue. If we are all individuals who think intelligently, who think dispassionately, who use data and facts to argue, who are patriotic... then how can we be against any policy that makes this a better country; that makes this a safer country; that makes this a more prosperous country.

The problem does not arise in that; the problem arises in putting the interest of a certain party or an individual above the interest of the nation. So, it is all about petty issues that make our governments less effective. I don't believe that coalition governments cannot perform. Well, they can. It is possible...

While I have my reservations about a coalition form of government, national progress is possible in any format provided the quality of the people are good as he has pointed out. Unfortunately, that is definitely beyond what the current pack of politicians in the fray are capable of:

Mayawati believes that making the daughter of a dalit (herself, in case you were wondering who she was referring to) the Prime Minister would in turn make "UP famous in the entire world". UP's anonymity in the international scene is the reason for the current state of affairs. 

Mulayam Singh Yadav bared his thoughts on the evils of computerization, something that could give N. Murthy a heart attack. 

Karunanidhi showed clear signs of his logical thought process with this: I'm not a terrorist, Prabhakaran is my friend and hence Prabhakaran is not a terrorist and followed it up with "it is not the LTTE chief’s fault if some of his men had taken to terrorism."

Unless we have people like Murthy himself joining mainstream politics, we will still be jumping through the hoops of petty politicking.