“What’s wrong with naming an institute after a patriot?” V Muraleedharan asked
Thiruvananthapuram:
With controversy erupting in Kerala over the Center’s decision to name the second campus of the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology after RSS ideologue MS Golwalkar, Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Sunday backed the move, saying no there was nothing wrong with naming him a “patriot.” .
“What’s wrong with naming an institute after a patriot?” asked the minister when asked by reporters about the decision of the Center, which has kicked for a row in the state.
MS Golwalkar was a professor of zoology at the University of Banaras, he said and asked what the famous Nehru trophy boat race was called in honor of former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
“Has Nehru ever participated in any sporting activities?” Mr Muraleedharan asked.
In 1952 an impromptu boat race was held in honor of Jawaharlal Nehru during his visit to Alappuzha, and it has become an annual event held on Punnamada Lake in August.
The minister said that he did not understand why the name of MS Golwalkar had become unacceptable.
“The RGCB governing council made this decision and no one else has a role in it,” he told the media in Kasaragod.
CPI leader Panniyan Ravindran said the state would not accept this decision of the Center.
He claimed that a conscious effort was being made to impose wrong facts as history.
Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan announced on Friday that the second campus of the Rajiv Gandhi Center for Biotechnology (RGCB), a leading knowledge center and center for mid and high level innovation, will be named as ” Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Center for Complex Diseases in Cancer and Viral Infections “.
The chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, had sent a letter to the union’s health minister on Saturday, urging him to reconsider the measure.
While left-wing parties have alleged that the BJP was trying to bring communal elements to the forefront, Congress has questioned MS Golwalkar’s contribution to the field of science and technology in India.
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