Expressing disappointment over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that recently came into force in India, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the Act ‘sad’ and said that he’d ‘love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant help create the next unicorn in the country or become the CEO of Infosys’.
Taking to Twitter, Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief of online website BuzzfeedNews, shared the exact quotes of Nadella as he was ‘speaking to editors at a Microsoft event in Manhattan’ on Monday.
“I think what is happening is sad… It’s just bad…. I would love to see a Bangladeshi immigrant who comes to India and creates the next unicorn in India or becomes the next CEO of Infosys” Smith wrote on the micro blogging platform Twitter, quoting Nadella as responding to his question.
Smith also posted the verbatim question-answer conversation.
By popular demand, here’s the verbate pic.twitter.com/I8YcMDJsf8
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 13, 2020
Later in a statement tweeted by Microsoft India, Nadella said ‘Every country will and should define its borders, protect national security and set immigration policy accordingly. And in democracies, that is something that the people and their governments will debate and define within those bounds’.
Statement from Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft pic.twitter.com/lzsqAUHu3I
— Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) January 13, 2020
ALSO READ: US removes China from currency manipulator list ahead of trade deal signing
Former Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai said that Nadella was confused and has been misled by Indian leftist academics in the US.
“Yes, he is very confused in his statement.Must be the Indian leftist academics in the US who have confused him by misinformation., @satyanadella Pl study the CAA before you comment!We respect you as @Microsoft CEO and you must not make comments to malign India!,” Pai wrote on the microblogging platform Twitter.
Noted historian Ramchandra Guha took to Twitter and welcomed Nadella’s statement as he asked Indian IT leaders to have similar courage.
“I am glad Satya Nadella has said what he has. I wish that one of our own IT czars had the courage and wisdom to say this first. Or to say it even now,” wrote Guha on the microblogging platform Twitter.
I am glad Satya Nadella has said what he has. I wish that one of our own IT czars had the courage and wisdom to say this first. Or to say it even now. https://t.co/KsKbDUtMQk
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) January 13, 2020
The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019 and came into effect from January 10, 2020.
According to the Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014 due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.