Sudha Murthy’s Rajya Sabha nomination triggers satire about her ‘simple’ lifestyle

Sudha Murthy, author of children’s books and former chairperson of the Infosys Foundation, was nominated as a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha by the President Droupadi Murmu on Friday. In recent months, the media has been flooded with items in which Murthy has spoken about her simple lifestyle and urged others to adopt a similar attitude.

Murthy holds stock worth Rs 5,600 crore in Infosys, the company co-founded by her husband.

These claims of simplicity have led to a flood of memes. With the announcement of her nomination to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, even more emerged.

One satirical publication made a jibe pointing out that Murthy’s son-in-law, Rishi Sunak, is Britain’s prime minister.

Another deployed a pun on the title of the 1980s Hindi film Maine Pyar Kiya (I have loved) to tap into the claims that the simplicity stories were all part of a public relations campaign.

In June, Veena Venugopal explained by Murthy’s claims of simplicity had received such a backlash.