Dr. Bal Ram Singh Nov. 5, 2015Prof. Bal Ram Singh interjects an intellectual lens to the debate on the intolerance of freedom of literary, artistic, scientific, and academic expression.
Kalyanaraman
The spirited debate in India on the intellectual freedom and scholarly analyses of the issues, including those related to culture, has recently turned ugly with at least some intellectuals taking to the streets, metaphorically speaking. These events are perhaps more a reflection of time and circumstances than anything that has really happened to gag anyone’s intellectual freedom.
However, I support the right of the intellectuals, particularly those who are returning their awards/honors/committee members, etc., to protest with whatever means at their disposal. It shows the state of their mindset, degree of their concern, and the level of their frustration, individually and as a group. It is certainly important to hear out their views, and allow them to express however they choose to do.
It is, nevertheless, a small group, no matter how sincere their concerns may be, given the large number of the Akademi Award winners India has produced in the past 60 years. There have been over 1,000 Sahitya Akademi awardees in the past 60 years since the inception of Sahitya Akademi Award in 1954, returning these awards by 25 odd scholars represents less than 3% of such honorees. Their views should be certainly heard, but frankly they cannot expect to dominate the social and political discourse, given their ‘street’ action which is unbecoming of such scholars who should be so much known to utilize their pen and intellect.
Taking to ‘streets’ through a political minefield makes it worse not only for the effectiveness of their views, but it trivializes the intellectual class in the society. Also, by separating themselves from the process of intellectual engagement, these scholars leave a vacuum in the national dialogue. Furthermore, their eagerness to demonize a democratically elected government undermines the people and their aspirations, and attracts undesirable elements in the international fora, who are inimical to national interests of India.
Although this latest round is attributed to intolerance in view of recent ghastly murders of a Muslim who was alleged to have killed a cow and eaten beef, and of a rationalist scholar who had apparently uttered some offensive remarks on the worship of a god of the Hindu community. There cannot be any justification of such cold-blooded murders, and it certainly should give pause to the majority community in whose name such crimes are committed. That said, however, the intellectual class and the media needs to play a constructive, stabilizing, and educational role to present the issues in proper perspective of law and order, fair process of finding the guilty and justice, and yes the political climate being created by politicians of all shades.
By taking to ‘streets’ even if these protests are not for any ulterior motive, this apparent fringe group of intellectual class is giving a bad name to the large majority of scholars and academics who would rather engage the public and government for better mutual understanding and respect.
I call it a fringe group of intellectuals not only because they represent a miniscule fraction of the awardees of Sahitya Akademi, Padma, or film awards, but also because they hold extreme views and take extreme actions. And, many of them have been biased politically to begin with, long before these sad incidents took place. Their actions may lead to a credibility gap in the society’s intellectual class, which may take a long time to fill.
One of award returnee is Professor Pushpa Mitra Bhargava, a prominent and very well respected scientist even in university days in 1980s. He recently returned his Padma Bhushan to protest intolerance and constraints on his freedom. I had a run in with Professor PM Bhargava at a panel discussion on Indian Civilization at India Habitat Center in Delhi in December 2005, he had sought to make an assertion that in the Western world scientists (I think he specifically referred to Nobel Laureates). Even cursory look at the list of scientists, including Nobel Laureates can easily identify them with religions, and I had in fact pointed out to a survey in 2005 by the Scientist magazine, suggesting a large majority of scientists identifying them with religions. In fact, current Director of National Institutes of Health in the United States, Dr. Francis Collins, has written a book entitled “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.”
Many times we are prone to using our own intellectual lens to judge the world. Professor Bhargava is obviously obsessed with the idea of separating religion and science, which certainly has some merit at least in the case of organized religions. However, he does not need to resort to cheap tactics of returning a national award in his efforts to embarrass a government whose philosophy of Indian civilization may not agree with him.
As a prominent scientist and respected figure in India he could easily organize seminars, debates, panels, etc. to engage other intellectuals and even government representatives to challenge any danger to the freedom of people in India. Returning honors and awards is like throwing tantrums and avoiding rationality.
Bal Ram Singh, PhD
President, Institute of Advanced Sciences
Professor and Director, Botulinum Research Center
Executive Mentor, School of Indic Studies
Institute of Advanced Sciences
Dartmouth, MA 02747
Former Tenured Professor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Former Visiting Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Former Visiting Professor, Harvard Medical School
Former Visiting Professor, Georgetown University
Phone – 508-999-1191
Direct phone line – 508-992-2042
Website – www.inads.org