Eminent scientist and founder director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, P.M. Bhargava told The Hindu on Thursday that he would soon be returning the Padma Bhushan awarded to him in 1986.
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Noted scientist PM Bhargava has said that he was forced to return his Padma Bhushan as the BJP-led NDA government refused to rein in intolerance in the country.
Bhargava’s move comes after eminent filmmakers, including Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan, have made a decision to return their National Awards in solidarity with the protesting FTII students and against the growing intolerance in the country. “Arguments are met not with counter arguments but with bullets”, the statement by historians said referring to Dadri lynching incident and the ink attack on Sudheendra Kulkarni during a book launch function in Mumbai. “I will return the award next week”, he said.
Apart from Bhargava, among those who signed the statement are P Balram, former director of Indian Institute of Science; Ashoke Sen of the Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad; A Gopalakrishnan, former chairman of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board; B Ravindran of the Institute of Life Sciences, Bhubaneswar; Partha Pratim Majumdar of the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in Kalyani and Satyajit Rath of the National Institute of Immunology in Delhi, the Indian Express reported.
They protested the “active promotion” of irrational and sectarian thought by “important functionaries of government”. He was clear that he was following the dictates of his conscience, and it was not for him to tell others what to do. “Follow their tweets and stances on various social and political issues”. Whatever you think the trolls will laugh at it. A lot of people are concerned about the growing intolerance but the minute you say something they begin talking about 1984, ’89, ’93.
Top government ministers have, however, described it a “manufactured rebellion” by left-leaning intellectuals who were recognised and given awards by previous governments. I stand by my phrase.
The scientist also sent a separate petition to the Centre, state governments and people at large, urging them to “stop the spread of communal hatred and polarisation in society,”. and pointing out that India had been a pluralist country where communities allowed space for each other. “The BJP is the political front of the RSS which is running institutes of learning”, he said.
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“The Padma Bhushan had a special place in my collection of more than 100 awards for science. The list is a who’s who of Hate BJP and Hate Modi brigade and comprises most cheerleaders of Sonia Gandhi”, BJP spokesman G.V.L. Narasimha Rao said.
