Indian-American founder slams Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu over Delhi protest remarks

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.

Updated on: Jul 23, 2026, 15:25:48 IST

By Sanya Jain

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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.

Vijay Rayapti (L) is the co-founder and CEO of Atomicwork, while Sridhar Vembu (R) is the founder and former CEO of Zoho.

For some 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)

Sridhar Vembu’s post

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.

Vijay Rayapati’s response

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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