The Indian-American co-founder and CEO of Atomicwork has called out Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu for his post criticising the student protesters in Delhi. Vijay Rayapti lashed out at Vembu for suggesting that protesters are using undemocratic ways to express their dissatisfaction.
Event Context
On Wednesday, July 22, Vembu shared an X post saying the protesters in Delhi “want to plunge India into chaos, and stop the nation’s progress”.
The Cockroach Janta Party has been protesting against paper leaks and mismanagement in major tests like the NEET medical entrance exams. Their protest has intensified over the last three days, drawing thousands to the protest site of Delhi’s Jantar Mantar observatory.
(Also read: ‘Speaking up is risky for business owners’: Sharan Hegde amid CJP protest)
As the protest fuelled a police crackdown, Vembu took to X to air his views.
“One thing is clear: the Delhi protesters want to plunge India into chaos, and stop the nation’s progress. We must defeat this malicious agenda, which is aided and abetted by powers that want to destroy India,” he wrote.
“We have a vibrant democracy and elections are the proper way to express our collective judgment,” added the founder and former CEO of Zoho.
Vembu’s take on the Jantar Mantar protests drew mixed reactions, including a sharp rejoinder from Vijay Rayapati. The Palo Alto-based CEO of Atomicwork said that India is not in danger from protesting students but from adults like Vembu.
He picked out a line from Vembu’s post to address — “Powers that want to destroy India” — and questioned what he meant by it.
“You mean the 18 yr old who studied over 12 hours a day for a paper that leaked before she sat the exam?” Rayapati asked Vembu.
“India isn’t threatened by students demanding fair exams. It’s threatened by adults like you who call them enemies for it,” he then added.
(Also read: ‘Hearing out Gen Z’: Entrepreneur shares 24-year-old caretaker’s perspective after CJP protest)
He was not alone in disagreeing with Vembu. Anish Gawande, spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party, also responded to Sridhar Vembu’s post — “Please sit down,” he wrote.
