Right-wing radicals are the enemies of reason. Historically, they have been against scientific temper. They resort to hyperbole or peddle blatant lies to whip up a false sense of jingoism. The current political establishment in India, spearheaded by the Hindutva brigade, are experts at such deception. They take religious myths and claim them as scientific facts – without any evidence whatsoever.
In 2014, addressing an assembly of medical professionals, Prime Minister Modi claimed that Karna and Ganesha, characters from Hindu mythology, prove that cosmetic surgery and reproductive genetics were prevalent in ancient India. Furthermore, he claimed ancient Indians were pioneers in stem cell research and technology. According to him, the Hindu deity Ganesh is a classic case of plastic surgery during the Vedic times. He also claimed that Ram (the mythical hero and protagonist of the Hindu epic Ramayana) flew the first aeroplane in the history of humanity.
Is India’s Prime Minister devoid of the faculty to distinguish between facts and fiction, myths and fairytales? Or is the Prime Minister lying? The answer is painfully clear.
The Prime Minister’s minions have followed his lead. In 2018, India’s minister of Science & Technology, in his inaugural address to the 105th Indian Science Congress, claimed that the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking said the Vedas are superior to Albert Einstein’s equation, E=MC2. But when asked about the source of his claim, he chose not to reveal it. The minister’s claim was a blatant lie, a falsity.
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