BENGALURU:Industrialist and Chairperson of Biocon Ltd Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw had a busy Monday on social media as she had to defend a statement that she had made about activists who are against Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s policy announcement of starting English-medium classes in Government schools. In her initial tweet on Sunday, Shaw had termed those opposing the policy as ‘nay-sayers’ and called them an insignificant group.
“Media always portrays a small & insignificant group of nay sayers as ‘activists’ - these r usually attention seeking trouble makers who don’t care about education nor employment,” she said to which a section of Twitter users took offence stating that she had used the terms to describe people like SG Siddaramaiah, Chairman of the Kannada Development Authority and others fighting for the Kannada cause.
After this, Shaw defended her statements against many attacks and during the course of the day.
By evening, however, her tweets had attracted the attention of SG Siddaramaiah who penned a letter to Shaw in which he said that he was anguished by her tweets. “It is but natural for people like you to simply equate education with employment, to wash your hands off by whimsically adopting few government schools out of your CSR funds and inculcate unwanted English ambitions in their minds,” he said.
He went on to ask Shaw to stay in remote areas of the state and told her that students there wanted to learn for empowerment. “I thought this would at least instill a sense of responsibility in future before airing your views on some fundamental issues.”