Belief in Hindutva is their belief and their own organizational agenda. That belief cannot be the administrative culture of the democratically elected government and should not pollute the academic syllabus.
The saffron forces have been implementing their Hindutva agenda through their political wing BJP since the party assumed power at the Centre in 2014. People who assume power with due allegiance to Indian Constitution must stick on to its provisos. But things have been happening otherwise, despite the fact that science is verifiable at any point of time through experiments. It is not so in case of faith in religions and their dogmas. Union Cabinet is the uppermost decision making layer in the democratic polity and the Ministers are jointly responsible for any announcements made by any of the Ministers. Starting from the Prime Minister of the country to the constituents of his ministerial cabinet, everyone deliberately utter their irresponsible comments which are against both the letter and spirit of Indian Constitution. After the unconstitutional utterances, stiff opposition arises for which the concerned responsible person has to support their statement. But ominous silence is observed by them; which is nothing but conspiracy of establishing false statements with the Goebellsian hope it would be perceived as true in course of time.
Recently, the Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development participated in the 105th Indian Science Congress at Manipur University, Imphal. In his address, the Minister, under the guise of paying tributes to recently demised Stephen Hawking, had flourished their own religious belief without adducing any proof. He said, “The theory of relativity formulated by the scientist Albert Einstein was found long ago in the Vedas.”
The utterance was made in the presence of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is habituated in such sorts of unscientific utterances during the past. Besides, the Minister had stated that his utterance was based on the observation made by Stephen Hawking.
After the address was over, the Minister was asked for the reference of his statement from the Vedas. The reply was, “Reference? Only you have to find out. If you are unable to do it, afterwards do come to me!”
What an authoritative utterance in support of his unscientific statement. This is not the first unscientific statement of the scholarly Minister with his doctorate in political science and his career in Indian Police Service earlier. He uttered that the theory of evolution found by the natural biologist Charles Darwin had been disputed scientifically and the theory had to be removed from the academic syllabus of education institution. Again that statement was also not founded on any proven reference.
Belief in Hindutva is their belief and their own organizational agenda. That belief cannot be the administrative culture of the democratically elected government and should not pollute the academic syllabus.
In support of the statement of the Minister, the screenshot of a Facebook posting was quoted by a responsible person, supposed to be a scholar, in the Institute of Scientific Research on Vedas. He said the utterance was made by Stephen Hawking himself as a comment for his (the scholar’s) book sent to the attention of the scientist. It was stated by the scholar that the Personal Secretary of Hawking told him about the observation in his book that the motion theory is already available in Vedas.
There is no proof except the one side observation. Above all the said screenshot of the Facebook posting in the name of Stephen Hawking is not his but a resemblance of Stephen Hawking.
What a gimmick enacted to praise Stephen Hawking with the hidden agenda of Hindutva!
Article 51A (h) of Indian Constitution says “It shall be the duty of every citizen to develop scientific temper, spirit of inquiry, humanism and reform”.
When the Constitution expects every citizen to do it as fundamental duty, may a Minister who took oath of office, owing allegiance to Indian Constitution violate it! The duty bound citizens of the country have to condemn the unconstitutional utterance of the Minister!
