UNI

Bangalore, Apr 10: Karnataka Home Minister M P Prakash on Tuesday assured the State Assembly that legal action will be taken against Infosys Chief Mentor and Non-Executive Chairman N R Narayana Murthy if it was proved that the IT czar had insulted the National Anthem during President A P J Abdul Kalam's visit to the company's Mysore campus on April eight.

Responding to the issue raised by Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj in the House, the Minister said he had not yet received a full report on the matter. He would get the report by tomorrow. ''If it is true that Murthy had insulted the National Anthem, we will surely take legal action,'' he added.

Earlier, Nagaraj accused Murthy of insulting the language, culture and National Anthem of the country by choosing not to sing the Anthem at the function.

Terming Murthy a ''traitor'', he sought the State Government to take immediate action against him and deport him.

Murthy's reported statement that the instrumental version of the National Anthem was played at the President's function as it would have inconvenienced foreign trainees at the Infosys Global Education Centre to sing along, had stirred up a hornet's nest.

However, putting to rest the controversy, Murthy on Tuesyaday clarified that the instrumental version of the Anthem was played so that all could sing along. He also apologised if his statement had hurt anybody's sentiments.

Narayana Murthy Apologizes on National Anthem Issue 
 
PTI

Bangalore: Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited N R Narayana Murthy said he "deeply apologises" if his media statement on the issue of playing the national anthem during President A P J Abdul Kalam's recent visit to the company's Mysore campus has hurt anybody's sentiments.

"If the media statement has hurt anybody's sentiments, I deeply apologise," Murthy said in a statement here.

"We played the instrumental version of the national anthem so that we could all sing along, and all of us did so. We wished to share the pride of being an Indian in the gracious presence of our President. We are informed that this is as per protocol," he said in the statement.

Murthy had said at a press meet -- in response to a question -- after Kalam's April 8 visit that singing the national anthem would have "embarrassed" company employees of foreign origin, remarks which evoked a strong reaction from some quarters.

"We have always kept the interest of India foremost in our minds and our work speaks for itself," he said in today's statement.

"We are a proud Indian company, with strong universal ethos of transparency, accountability and honesty. It has always been our endeavour to represent India with the highest standards of respect and enable it to take its rightful place in the world economy," Murthy said.