'Avoid North-South Politics': Zoho's Sridhar Vembu on Ex-Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai's 'Bengaluru Ignored' Jibe

After Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced on Tuesday that the Centre will establish three AI Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Healthcare, Agriculture, and Sustainable Cities with the support of AIIMS, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Ropar by 2028, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai expressed his displeasure. Soon after, he shot out a post targeting the government as to why the IT hub in the South was overlooked, adding, “Are we not part of Bharat too?” Zoho CEO Sridhar Vembu, who co-chairs the committee that made the decision, strongly reacted to the post. He explained that the locations were chosen based on the “evaluation of actual projects completed” and urged Pai to “avoid North-South politics”.

The establishment of CoEs was announced by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during her 2023-24 budget speech. The Centre has approved Rs 990 crore for the creation of these centres as part of its vision to “Make AI in India and Make AI work for India”.

What did Mohandas Pai say?

On Wednesday, Mohandas Pai took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express his concerns, stating, “Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, nothing in Bengaluru, the technology capital of India? Why are you and Ashwini Vaishnaw ignoring the South in IT, ignoring Bengaluru?” questioning, “Are we not part of Bharat too?”

He added, “Bengaluru voted for NDA but all we get is stepmotherly treatment. Citizens here are very angry and upset at you folks repeatedly ignoring us in the South! Are we children of a lesser God here?”

Pai tagged PM Modi and urged him to “intervene” and ensure Bengaluru receives its “share”. He also tagged Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, Union Ministers HD Kumaraswamy and Nirmala Sitharaman in his post.

Furthermore, he alleged, “For voting NDA our state govt too is ignoring us! Not investing enough in Bengaluru!” The Indian National Congress won the Legislative Assembly election in 2023 by securing a total of 135 seats, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular).

Sridhar Vembu’s response

Vembu responded to the Pai’s social media post on three AI-CoEs. “The committee itself had plenty of us from the South (probably the majority). Most of us came from the private sector and the Government did not tell us who we should select. We in the committee (again with so many of us from the South and so many from the private sector) did the selection based on a very thorough evaluation of actual projects done.”

He urged against introducing “North-South politics” into the discussion, asserting, “The responsibility for this decision on the AI Centres of Excellence should be with us in the committee and personally with me as Co-chair.”

Vembu explained that institutions such as IISc Bengaluru, IIT Chennai, NIT Calicut, IIT Hyderabad, and IIT Mumbai had submitted “strong proposals”, but the committee unanimously chose those that would lead to the establishment of the CoEs.

He further revealed that the “consortiums selected include southern institutions. For instance, the AI CoE on Health led by the AIIMS consortium includes IISc Bengaluru and IIT Chennai”.

AIIMS and IIT Delhi will spearhead the healthcare CoE, IIT Ropar will lead efforts in agriculture, and IIT Kanpur will drive the sustainable cities initiative.

At the launch event, Sridhar Vembu emphasised that these projects will holistically benefit the health of villages, cities, and the people of the country. He highlighted the importance of nurturing the country’s talent pool to ensure its members thrive and contribute to the nation over the next 10 to 20 years. He added that the CoEs will bootstrap numerous initiatives, create companies, nurture talent, and generate opportunities for the talent pool.