Top scientist, 12 filmmakers in India return awards to decry climate of intolerance
Bhargava, 87, added that he will meet the home secretary and return the award soon.
NEW DELHI (Web Desk) - Joining the protest of writers and artists, a top Indian scientist P M Bhargava will return his Padma Bhushan award he received from the government to protest against “the government’s attack on rationalism, reasoning and science”, reported Indian media.
Talking to The Indian Express, he said: “An artist can express his dissent by doing an art work. But I am a scientist. How will I protest through my work? So I had to take the decision to return the award as it is the only way to register my protest.”
Bhargava, 87, added that he will meet the home secretary and return the award soon.
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In India, he said, scientists’ fraternity is socially insensitive. “I hope the decision taken by me would at least sensitise them towards the alarming situation in the country. Scientists cannot be silent or ignore things happening around,” he said.
His decision came hours after over 100 top scientists from some of India’s distinguished institutes issued a statement in which they denounced the climate of rising intolerance in the country.
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“The scientific community is deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance, and the ways in which science and reason are being eroded in the country. It is the same climate of intolerance and rejection of reason that led to the lynching in Dadri of Mohammad Akhlaq and the assassinations of Prof (M M) Kalburgi, Dr Narendra Dabholkar and Shri Govind Pansare. All three fought against superstition and obscurantism to build a scientific temper in our society,” said the statement.
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“The Indian civilisation is a truly plural one. We have always had many practices and communities that have allowed space for each other; we celebrate the festivals and anniversaries of all faiths. This unity and peace has now been disturbed by a rash of bigoted acts, attacks on minorities and Dalits, which show no signs of abating,” it added.
The statement was also put online for other scientists to sign their name and lend voice to the issue.
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Besides this twelve filmmakers, including Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan, also returned their national awards to protest the extremist acts of violence prevailing in the country.
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