Sudha Murty pulls a huge crowd on the 4th day of Jaipur Lit Fest

Jaipur: Author and philanthropist Sudha Murty drew a large crowd on a rainy Sunday here on the penultimate day of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

The session, titled ‘Common yet uncommon’, saw Sudha in conversation with publisher Meru Gokhale. The former Infosys Foundation chairperson spoke about her life, the flak she faced when she chose to pursue engineering, and the sacrifices she made during the early days of Infosys.

“For five years, I had to give up my career and look after my children. In those five years, I wrote three books,” she shared. “One must always live life by their own rules,” she added.

The focus shifted to crime and murder mysteries when author Richard Osman took the stage to discuss his Thursday Murder Club book series with Somnath Batabyal, a writer and academic. Describing his books as a “very accurate reflection of sensibility and way of life in Britain”, he said he believes it’s not the plot that is important, but the characters that hold the key to a good novel. 

In a discussion on ‘How Prime Ministers Decide’, a book by journalist Neerja Chowdhury, the author gave an overview of the historic decisions made by some of India’s PMs. In her book, she covers significant moments in India’s political history, such as Indira Gandhi’s return to power in 1980 and P V Narasimha Rao's decision that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.

Conversations on Hindi cinema, literature across Indian languages, inclusivity, and Indian history brought the day to a close.

'Politicisation of Hinduism'

Congress leader and MP Shashi Tharoor was the highlight of the day, with three back-to-back sessions that covered diverse topics like saving democracy, modern-day aphorisms, and the atrocities of the British Empire.

In a press conference following the sessions, Tharoor addressed questions on the economy, the upcoming elections, and the threat to secularism in India.

“The government is looking at the macro picture. The bottom 60% of the population is not flourishing. In fact, they have seen negative economic growth,” he said.

“We want the marginalised and disenfranchised to participate in the Indian economy and be stakeholders in its success,” he stated.

To a question on his participation at the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, he retorted that not being present at the event didn’t make him anti-Hindu. “I pray to Ram every day. Does the BJP have a copyright on Ram?” he asked. “We are not anti-Hindu, but anti ‘the politicisation of Hinduism’,” he clarified.