Hard on Mulayam

Mulayam Singh Yadav, an CM aspirant of Indias most populous state, Uttar
Pradesh, wants no computers and no English medium schools. How far away are some
of the so-called popular politicians from the public sentiment?

I was in Lucknow a few weeks back to attend the DQ Week IT Panchayat, a forum
of IT dealers and resellers from across the state. The first thing I noticed was
that the evening cocktail and dinner program started about two hours behind the
scheduled time. I was told that since these people mostly deal in computers and
peripherals, they close shop late. But is this not slowdown time? They could
have surely closed early today.

It was over the cocktails that I discovered that while corporate India was
holding back IT budgets, homes and small offices in the many small towns of
Uttar Pradesh were buying computers, both desktops and laptops. In fact, many of
their buyers came from villages, despite the challenge of power supply.

During the conversation I figured out that school and college going students
were one big buyer category in Uttar Pradesh. I was informed that in these
towns, parents as well as children believe that computers is a key to a good
career. These towns have small English medium schools in every nook and corner,
and most of them are now also offering computer training.

When Mulayam Singh says that he is against computers because it displaces
people in jobs, he might have intended to strike a sympathy chord with the
masses. It will actually back-fire. No longer are people overwhelmed by this
slogan. On the contrary, masses are beginning to see the benefits of information
technologyjobs, business opportunities, more efficient and transparent
governance, efficiency in banks and other services, availability of remote
services, to name a few.

With slogans that deride computers and computer users, Mulayam Singh is
likely to give a handle to those fringe elements who might take out rallies
against offices using computers, and attack computer training institutes and
schools. At a time when citizens want their representative to get them growth
and development, it is highly unlikely that Mulayam Singh will get many
followers with this strategy.

Last month I had written that Indians must vote against crooks and criminals
in this general election. Let me add another category. Indians must also go all
out against people like Mulayam Singh who are likely to pull the state and the
country down. In any case one can safely bet that many aspiring parents and
their sons and daughters are unlikely to vote for Mulayams Samajwadi Party. Jai
ho!

Ibrahim Ahmad

ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in