Background

The controversy surrounding Prof. Harijan began when he posted a critical message on social media, where he voiced concerns over certain Hindu deities, arguing that some religious figures perpetuate caste-based discrimination and superstition. His remarks quickly ignited a firestorm of online criticism, with numerous groups accusing him of insulting Hindu sentiments. The backlash led to widespread condemnation, and the issue escalated further when members of the university’s academic community weighed in.

Though Prof. Harijan issued a public apology for his statements, the response from the public remained largely hostile, prompting the university administration to take formal action. On October 3, during a meeting of the Executive Council of Allahabad University, chaired by Vice-Chancellor Prof. Sangita Srivastava, the council discussed measures to address the situation. In their deliberations, they concluded that any action by university personnel that could tarnish the institution’s image would not be tolerated. As part of this, the council introduced stricter guidelines for all university staff, particularly faculty members. These guidelines included the stipulation that all faculty members must seek prior approval from the Vice-Chancellor before posting content related to the university on social media.

Despite the official apology and efforts to resolve the issue, the matter took a more serious turn on November 14. Registrar Prof. Ashish Khare issued a formal warning to Prof. Harijan. The notice, which was based on the findings and recommendations of the Executive Council, advised the professor to refrain from making any further provocative remarks on sensitive issues like religion and culture. The notice stated that such actions, particularly those made on public or social media platforms, could potentially harm the reputation of Allahabad University. The warning also emphasized that continued behavior of this nature would result in severe disciplinary actions, in line with the institution’s procedural norms.

Prof. Harijan’s unapologetic stance

According to Mooknayak, Prof. Harijan remained unapologetic about his stance on caste-based discrimination and superstition. He emphasized that his critical remarks were directed not at individuals but at the broader social and religious structures that perpetuate inequality and marginalization.

“If religion and caste promote superstition and discrimination, I will speak out against them, and I will continue to do so. Receiving a notice has not deterred me,” Prof. Harijan stated firmly. He clarified that his views were not aimed solely at Hinduism but extended to all religions that, in his opinion, sustain caste hierarchies and exclusionary practices. “I speak against all religions that encourage discrimination, whether it is Hinduism, Islam, or Sikhism. My focus is on marginalized communities who remain excluded across all religious frameworks,” he explained, as reported Mooknayak.

However, Prof. Harijan’s criticism of religious structures is not new. Throughout his academic career, he has been vocal about the intersections of caste, religion, and social justice. His academic work and public remarks challenge the traditional norms that many in India consider sacred. The professor’s unwavering stance on caste discrimination and his refusal to be silenced by university authorities have made him a polarizing figure.

In the aftermath of the notice, Prof. Harijan’s supporters have rallied behind him, lauding his courage to speak out against the social evils of casteism and superstition. Many students and faculty members at Allahabad University have voiced their admiration for Harijan’s commitment to social justice, noting that his contributions to the academic environment have been invaluable in raising awareness about marginalized communities and their struggles.

Allahabad University’s formal notice, and Prof. Harijan’s response, have reignited a larger debate about the freedom of expression, particularly for academics, and the role of universities in shaping public discourse. The incident also raises important questions about the limits of academic freedom, especially when it comes to discussions that challenge deeply held cultural and religious beliefs.

As the situation unfolds, it remains to be seen how the university will balance the need to protect its reputation with the rights of its faculty members to express their academic and personal views. However, one thing is clear: Prof. Harijan’s resolve to address caste discrimination, superstition, and social inequities shows no signs of waning, and his actions will undoubtedly continue to provoke thought and controversy in the academic community and beyond.

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“It shall be the duty of every citizen ‘to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”
[Article 51A(h) of the Indian Constitution]

Image Credits: Amazon|The Caravan

Translated by Jai Vipra

“I shot him twice”, says Sharad Kalaskar, one of the two prime accused in the assassination of rationalist  Narendra Dabholkar, about the act. Kalaskar further elaborates the two shots – one in the head and the other, right above the eye – in his confession to the Karnataka Police.

Assassinated by Kalaskar and Sachin Andure on the morning of August 20, 2013, Narendra Dabholkar was a medical doctor and the founder of the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), a group committed to fighting superstition and black magic in the state from 1989.

Dabholkar made several attempts to bring about an anti-superstition law in Maharashtra. Under his supervision, MANS drafted the Anti-Jaadu Tona Bill (Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance). The bill was opposed by the BJP and Shiv Sena, claiming that it was against Hindu culture. However, a day after his death in 2013, the bill was approved as an ordinance by the Maharashtra government. MANS has also spearheaded the campaign against polluting water bodies by the immersion of Ganesha idols in them during festivals, against godmen, astrology and other superstitious beliefs. Right before his death, he and the group were involved in an intense campaign against superstition and blind faith, with rallies and press conferences.

Dabholkar, part of the country’s pro-science and scientific temper movement, was one of the three rationalists who were murdered one after the other around the same time. Communist leader Govind Pansare in Mumbai and academic M M Kalburgi in Karnataka, were shot dead for similar reasons in the following years.

These are to be seen as attacks on reason and science in general, in a country which has had a strong philosophical streak of materialism and rationality as part of its history. Not to be seen as isolated incidents of violence, they are a part of a concerted effort to attack India’s scientific temper. Their attempts at promoting science and scientific thinking were in opposition to the narrative of the current regime, which one the one hand unleashes violence on those who work towards an inquisitive society and on the other, people at the helm of affairs, including the prime minister, produce unscientific and ahistorical claims about the country’s past. Furthermore, we have the country’s most important rocket scientists falling at the feet of godmen and astrology before each of their scientific ventures.

At six years since Dabholkar’s assassination, his death anniversary is commemorated as National Scientific Temper Day in India. Today, 20 August 2019, the Indian Cultural Forum too joins the nation in remembering this giant of a rationalist, in an effort to also develop science, rationality, and the spirit of scientific temper, a Constitutionally ordained duty of every citizen.

The following are excerpts from the chapters “Scientific Temper” and “Religious Inquiries and Rationalism” from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper by Narendra Dabholkar. 

Possessing scientific knowledge and developing a scientific temper are two different things. A person who has studied science is more likely to develop a scientific temper than someone who has no knowledge of science, but there is no guarantee that she will do so.

Scientific thinking requires independence of thought, a faculty which inheres within a person’s value system. Thus, mere intellect cannot help develop a scientific temper. A person can be highly intelligent and yet incapable of independent thinking, while another person of average intellect could have a keenly analytical bent of mind.

In other words, acquiring a scientific knowledge is a function of someone’s intelligence but developing a scientific temper is a function of their values. In the same vein, the notion that common people lack the ability to internalise scientific thinking is false. In fact, it is much more difficult for such people to internalise the teachings of religion.

Certain people who possess a scientific temper also follow superstitious practices. They are either insincere or struggling to live in the way they want to. Perhaps they do not want to detract from their well-wishers. Whatever the case may be, they cannot be held up as examples for the failure of scientific thinking. We do not label pious believers as irreligious just because some other people use religion for their beliefs and their deeds. However, the truly scientific person strives to bridge the gap between their thoughts and actions.

Scientific thinking saves time, effort and money. There are only two options before us if we want to solve our country’s problems: we can be slaves to tradition or we can think scientifically. Our long history complicates this choice; the hold that tradition has over us as a people is agonising. In Indian social contexts, it is tough to adapt old beliefs, habits and institutions to changing situations. Scientific thinking helps us determine the magnitude of such changes. And a scientific temper teaches us that no matter how glorious our past, it cannot solve the questions of a completely different time – the present or the future.

A convenient merger of slavery to tradition and scientific thinking is even more dangerous. For instance, we sing the praises of scientific thinking everywhere, from our textbooks to our Constitution. But the Notable Research awards of the National Science Congress go to heads of institutes of revelatory knowledge or to chartered accountants who write essays on astrology. The Science Congress does not feel the need to correct these errors even though several venerated scientists have objected to them. No one sees anything absurd in a governor who performs a prayer ceremony to propitiate the rains, or in prime ministers and presidents who, while ushering India into the twenty-first century, also fall at ring-producing Satya Sai Baba’s feet.

If we incorporate scientific thinking in education, our children can be taught to combine and make sense of various experiences, and to derive conclusions from them.

[…]

How do religious beliefs regulate everyday life? Many traditional ceremonies, rituals and practices in society, such as weddings, inheritance or adoption, are legitimated by religion. Private and communal prayer, fasts and vows are all religious inventions. Most of these observances are tied to the notion of an afterlife. Morality, including the concept of virtue, non-violence, truth, renunciation and stoicism, is also taught as a part of religion. Religious teaching , in addition, includes certain conceptions of the world and man’s place in it – usually anthropocentric ones. It also propagates its own brand of sociology and its own theories of social organisation.

Traditions and rituals, and moral and sociological theories are not separate parts of religion. Religion is created by the very interaction of these concepts. And thus all of this ‘religiosity’ has seeped into society, with considerable impact on the people holding these beliefs. 
What does our anti-superstition thinking reveal about religion? 

These rituals can be exploitative and meaningless. Until recently many people believed that if a girl did not marry before a certain age, her parents would be condemned to hell, and that the doors of heaven would close for them if they did not have a son to perform their last rites. A huge amount of rice is thrown over the bride and groom during the wedding ceremony. In Maharashtra alone, fifteen-twenty lakh kilos of rice are wasted every year in this manner, but even raising this issue is considered blasphemous. Daughters are ‘donated’ in a kanya daan as if they are goods, and this degrading practice is seen as a matter of pride. A widowed woman is kept away from her own son’s wedding for no fault of hers. When a family member dies, people coop themselves up inside their homes for a twelve-day period of mourning and feed the whole village on the thirteenth day, regardless of the debt they incur. All these beliefs and practices are products of religion. In the Muslim community, triple talaq makes getting rid of a wife very easy. Sometimes couples cannot adopt even if they are incapable of having children. Every religion calls a man’s wife his ‘other half’; not one supports the woman’s claim to half her husband’s property. Religion pervades every aspect of life; this is the reason our movement needs to raise questions about it. 

Which religious rituals should one follow? How does one please deities? How does one ensure happiness in the afterlife? These are personal questions for a believer, and religious individuals have the right to them. But what if, in pursuing religious goals, man is blinded to reason? Should we then respect his actions because they are religious?Should we not denounce them when they are inhuman? People have been known to run at the stone walls of temples, breaking their skulls on collision, simply to fulfil vows they made to God. They stab themselves in the back with a sharp knife or cut their own foreheads with a rusty one, tie themselves to a bullock cart which drags them along with it all day, tear open the sacrificial goat with their bare teeth, bathe their hands in buffalo blood and imprint it on the temple walls, walk on fire and roll about in the dirt around the temple. Less horrifically, they are constantly preoccupied with their aartis or namaz, and agonise over how many times they should recite the gayatri mantra, how severely to fast or whether to finish eating before sunset. People have a right to perform these rituals, of course, even if others find them pointless. Likewise, other people have a right to analyse and criticise them.

When a manufacturer of sweets donates tens of thousands of sweets to a Ganapati idol, should this act be condoned as freedom of worship? Is it acceptable for lakhs of people to gather to perform a yajna for world peace? Is the pouring of hundreds of litres of milk, ghee or honey on the ascetic Bahubali’s idol, in consonance with core religious values? Are meaningless, outdated fasts an essential part of religion? A banyan tree provides shade to a weary traveller but it can also fall and kill people when it is old and weak. How does tying a thread to a branch of this tree help increase one’s husband’s lifespan? What is the link between observing the Goddess Hartalika’s fast and acquiring a good husband?

One story that our society cannot accept any commentary on is the legend of the Satyanarayana puja. This is described in the Skanda Purana in two parts, which implies it was written around 300 CE to 400 CE. The purana says that Lord Vishnu prescribed this puja to Narada Muni as a way to earn the favour of the gods with minimum effort and money. Narada then narrated it to Suta Maharshi, who told it to Shaunaka Muni. The entirety of Hindu society is encompassed in this story. It characters include a Brahmin, King Tungadhwaj, the merchant Sadhuram and a woodcutter. These four represent the four castes of the varna system.

Sadhuram is a rich merchant. The merchant class, desirous of both preserving and increasing their wealth, is inclined to try and reap benefits from minimum investment in religious rituals. Therefore, while others in the kingdom observe the Satyanarayana puja once a year, Sadhuram is instructed to perform it every month.

The story openly uses the human motives of greed and fear to insist on the observance of this ritual. The woodcutter complies, and earns twice as usual on the day he performs the puja. Kings are unlikely to be tempted by such gains, so Tungadhwaj refuses to perform the rite. As a consequence of divine retribution, he loses his sons and risks losing his kingdom. Once he buckles and performs the puja, his former glory is restored. The merchant Sadhuram is shown to be alternately tempted and threatened. Among other things, he is accused of thievery and is thrown into prison, and eventually all his wealth disappears. Needless to say, everything is resolved when he finally performs the Satyanarayana puja.

As this story illustrates, this is a prayer that is performed purely for personal material gain. There is no element of alleviating human suffering and granting prosperity to all, as Vishnu is supposed to have promised in his narration to Narada. The saint Gadage Maharaj used to ridicule the story of Satyanarayana puja in front of assemblies of thousands. Indeed, rational people should not believe in or condone such rituals for obvious reasons, and religious people should balk at taking such an unabashed shortcut to personal well-being and gain. 
Yet, most people simply acquiesce in such observances. This is akin to keeping your brain aside and participating in a meaningless ritual.
The Satyanarayana prayer actually includes the verse which claims that the Brahmin was born out of Brahma’s mouth, the Kshatriya from his arm, the Vaishya from his thigh and the Shudra from his feet. How is this acceptable? We either accept the Indian Constitution or we accept this verse. Do we know what we are agreeing to when we nod silently as the priest chants? Is this ignorance or cognitive dissonance that is being cleverly exploited by religion?

Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist, author and activist from Maharashtra. A trained medical doctor, he founded and was president of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Through his writings and speeches, he emphasised the role of rational thinking. He was murdered on 20 August 2013, and triggered by his death, the long-pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in Maharashtra four days later. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.
 

Jai Vipra works on research and advocacy in technology policy, especially on digital monopolies, trade and finance. She is a rationalist and advocates for the rejection of all superstition, and for the use of science and technology for the emancipation of humanity from exploitation. She completed her Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford and is currently based in New Delhi.

These are excerpts from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper written by Narendra Dabholkar, translated by Jai Vipra and published by Context, Westland. Republished here with permission from the publisher.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Narendra Dabholkar was a rationalist, author and activist from Maharashtra. A trained medical doctor, he founded and was president of the Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti. Through his writings and speeches, he emphasised the role of rational thinking. He was murdered on 20 August 2013, and triggered by his death, the long-pending Anti-Superstition and Black Magic Ordinance was promulgated in Maharashtra four days later. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Shri in 2014.

Jai Vipra works on research and advocacy in technology policy, especially on digital monopolies, trade and finance. She is a rationalist and advocates for the rejection of all superstition, and for the use of science and technology for the emancipation of humanity from exploitation. She completed her Masters in Public Policy from the University of Oxford and is currently based in New Delhi.
These are excerpts from Please Think: Practical Lessons in Developing a Scientific Temper written by Narendra Dabholkar, translated by Jai Vipra and published by Context. Republished here with permission from the publisher.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

The post Scientific temper is of fundamental importance to the acquisition and transfer of knowledge” appeared first on SabrangIndia.

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Poster of Narendra Nayak’s workshop at Baghpat/ Image courtesy Narendra Nayak
 
Recently, I conducted a three-day workshop on the exposure of so-called miracles for primary school teachers in a place called Baghpat, about 50 kms from Delhi. Baghpat remains a small town though it is the district headquarter; and a rural area, despite its proximity to the national capital. One of the trainees was a devotee of some baba — probably the recently convicted rapist Ram Rahim. He was desperately trying to cling to every so-called supernatural phenomenon I demonstrated and debunked. He tried his best to perform something I could not expose, and failed miserably every time. Finally, on the last day, he admitted defeat and said, he would try to think rationally, and expose those who claimed to possess supernatural powers. At the valedictory function, he made a grand declaration to that effect before the guests, who included the revenue and education department officers.
 

Audience at Narendra Nayak’s workshop at Baghpat/ Image courtesy Narendra Nayak
 

I went back to the first time I met her, in connection with the investigation we had conducted together in 1992 or 1993. It was the case of a man from a village called Dyamalapura near Tumkur, about 50 kms to the north of Bengaluru on the highway to Pune. This man was allegedly blessed with a sort of super power by Shani. The claim was that he could read playing cards by looking at the reverse side. It was said he acquired this ability sometime before Independence, and had been using it since to earn huge amounts by playing in clubs and casinos. He had been “tested” by a number of journalists and certified to be genuine.

 
This brought to mind one of the most powerful tendencies of rural/ semi-urban India — the claim of some phenomenon out of this world. Since I have been conducting workshops for more than 25 years, and have gone to hundreds of such places, I come across many such examples. My familiarity with magic tricks and my rational approach make it relatively easy to reproduce or expose these phenomena. Discreet warnings have also put a stop to many of these.
 

Narendra Nayak demonstrates a ritual practised in coastal Karnataka and elsewhere that involves burning of camphor on tongues and palms/ Image courtesy The Hindu
 
On the last but one day of the Baghpat program, at 9 pm, I got the news that my old friend Gauri Lankesh had been shot dead. The next few hours I spent on press interviews, notes and reactions. But once the news sank in my mind, I went back to the first time I met her, in connection with the investigation we had conducted together in 1992 or 1993. It was the case of a man from a village called Dyamalapura near Tumkur, about 50 kms to the north of Bengaluru on the highway to Pune. This man was allegedly blessed with a sort of super power by Shani. The claim was that he could read playing cards by looking at the reverse side. It was said he acquired this ability sometime before Independence, and had been using it since to earn huge amounts by playing in clubs and casinos. He had been “tested” by a number of journalists and certified to be genuine. I was on a tour of Karnataka at that time. Wherever I went, I was asked how the man did it. This made me announce an award of Rs. 10,000 if he could read, from the reverse side, nine of the ten cards that I would deal him. I got a call from Gauri, who wanted me to conduct the test at Bengaluru in her presence, because she had tested him and found that the powers were genuine. She was categorical that it was not sleight of hand because he could correctly read the cards she had dealt him. She said it was up to me to expose him as she was sure no one else could. She was then working as a reporter for Sunday, published by the Anand Bazar Patrika group of Kolkata, and she wanted to write an exclusive report.

He could tell whether it was a six or a seven or an ace or a king. But he could not say whether it was a diamond, a club or a heart. Dr. H.N. Narasimhaiah was taken aback. He told me that this man appears to be demonstrating supernatural powers. He called Dr. C.R. Chandrashekar, a psychiatrist, to examine the man. Those were the days of landlines only; by the time CR reached the phone I told HN that I had solved the case!

The test was conducted in the chambers of Dr. H. Narasimhaiah, the former Vice Chancellor of Bangalore University who had, three decades back, constituted the first committee for the scientific investigation of paranormal powers by a university in India. The committee met with stiff resistance, with a number of so-called godmen scheming to get rid of him from his post. Now, at the test, to pre-empt any fraud with a marked deck, I had specified that I would bring the card pack. But the “miracle man” Hanumantarayappa went a step further. He said I had to bring a particular brand of commonly available playing cards, and I could open the seal before dealing the cards. At the appointed time, we went to Narasimhaiah’s chamber. Gauri was also there. I showed the man the seal of the card pack, then tore it open. He asked me to deal the cards. I did it very carefully so that he could not peek under the cards. But just by staring at the reverse side, he could identify them easily. As I dealt the cards, he called them, and he was correct every time. But he had a limitation. He could call only the denomination but not the suit. He could tell whether it was a six or a seven or an ace or a king. But he could not say whether it was a diamond, a club or a heart. Dr. H.N. Narasimhaiah was taken aback. He told me that this man appears to be demonstrating supernatural powers. He called Dr. C.R. Chandrashekar, a psychiatrist, to examine the man. Those were the days of landlines only; by the time CR reached the phone I told HN that I had solved the case!

Everyone was surprised. I opened a brand new pack and asked Hanumantarayappa to check the cards, which he did diligently. I asked him to deal the cards, and I began calling out the denomination along with the suit. Hanumantarayappa was flabbergasted! He came to my side of the table, prostrated at my feet before I could react, and called me his guru. He said I had much greater powers than he did because he could not tell the suit of the cards while I could tell both. He predicted a great career for me (I wonder how that turned out to be a damp squib). He also revealed his trick: he was identifying cards by some microscopic markings at the back which would be hard to point out as deliberate.

He had become so famous that he was not allowed to play cards in any club. Whenever he entered a club, he would be given refreshment, a few hundred rupees and sent away. He was also very curious about how I had powers superior to him!

He also confessed that all the tall tales of his prowess at five-star hotels and casinos were fabrications. He got the idea from a Hollywood movie he had seen, and the story of the powers of Shani was to mislead people. The legends that he had made crores from this business were also false. He had earned a few lakhs and was leading a comfortable life with a farm and pump set. He had become so famous that he was not allowed to play cards in any club. Whenever he entered a club, he would be given refreshment, a few hundred rupees and sent away. He was also very curious about how I had powers superior to him! As magicians do not reveal their tricks, rationalists too do not reveal theirs, though they will expose others. So, I told him I would not tell him.

Once the reports of the secret behind his alleged claims of supernatural powers appeared in the media, those who had lost money to him became active. They began writing to the editors of the publications about how they had lost their hard-earned money to a cheat, and how they wanted revenge.

What was to be a confrontation turned out to be a friendly meeting and exchange of notes. Gauri made a full page write up for Sunday magazine. There were photos of both of us holding playing cards. Hanumantarayappa was around seventy five at that time but looked quite fit for his age, and he could read without glasses. After that, I made it a point to go to the office of every newspaper and magazine which had reported his supernatural powers, and impressed upon them that they needed to give equal space and prominence to the exposure too. But what followed was an unintended tragic end. Once the reports of the secret behind his alleged claims of supernatural powers appeared in the media, those who had lost money to him became active. They began writing to the editors of the publications about how they had lost their hard-earned money to a cheat, and how they wanted revenge. As a result, whenever Hanumantarayappa tried to enter any club to play cards, they would decline to admit him. With the choicest of rural Kannada abuses, they would tell him that they all knew about his powers and there was no place for him at their establishment. His reputation was in tatters, and many of them thanked me for exposing him.

Thus came the end of a legend who made news all over Karnataka for his alleged supernatural powers of card reading. But the take-home message for all those who would like to gamble is that commonly available playing cards may have markings on their reverse side which sharp players can read and cheat the gullible. As for my secret: I was using a deck called grandmaster which is used by magicians to do to various types of “psychic readings”!

In fact, when an attempt was made to “get rid” of me on the 15 March, she called me and asked me to be careful. When I asked her about herself, she said “Adella namage agolrappa” – “We can’t have all that!”

That was the beginning of my association with Gauri. We were closest in the last few years of her life. In fact, when an attempt was made to “get rid” of me on the 15 March, she called me and asked me to be careful. When I asked her about herself, she said “Adella namage agolrappa” – “We can’t have all that!” Even before the attempt on my life in March, I had been provided with a gunman who was with me during the day. Despite his warnings, I used to go to the swimming pool near my house early in the morning before he came. Then some miscreants, who had been keeping a close watch on my moves, tried to attack me, and my security was upgraded to 24 hours. Would Gauri still be with us if she had accepted security? The same question could be asked about my friend Narendra Dabholkar. He had refused security, saying that if he had security, they (the killers) would get the next one in line. Better me than someone else, he said. And those words turned out to be prophetic.
 
Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

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Bhupendra Singh Chudasama, Education Minister of Gujarat and his colleague Atmaram Paramar, who handles the Social Justice Ministry, were in the news sometime back – albeit for wrong reasons. A video went viral which showed them participating in a felicitation ceremony of exorcists in Botad. They were also seen watching how a couple of the exorcists were beating themselves with metal chains to live music near the stage.

Perhaps it did not matter to them that the Constitution frowns upon such activities and Article 51A (h) of the Indian constitution clearly says that it shall be a fundamental duty of all citizens “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.” Neighbouring state Maharashtra has even enacted a law (The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013) to rein in all such activities. It criminalises practices related to black magic, human sacrifices, use of magic remedies to cure ailments and other such acts which exploit people’s superstitions. And it was a culmination of a prolonged movement led by activists like Dr Dabholkar – who even faced martyrdom for his activities.

It is possible the ministerial duo could foresee that their participation could easily be glossed over/justified if they invoke question of faith, which they promptly did. Chudasama was reported as saying, “[i]t was a gathering of worshippers of divine power, not those who spread superstition.” Parmar also defended himself by saying, “The people who are protesting don’t know about Hindu culture. These are holy men of divine power.”

Anyway, it was noteworthy that their participation did not go unnoticed and there were protests as Dalits and other oppressed sections felt that it was promotion of harmful superstitions. People found it disturbing that despite the fact that rural Gujarat is in grip of such exorcists who engage in all kinds of acts of superstitions, the ministers did not have any qualms in felicitating them.

Rationalists have been working hard to expose the wrong doings of such exorcists – who are thousands in number – and who at times are also found helping /facilitating robbing of women’s properties by their relatives by declaring them as witches.

Close on the heels of this incident has come another piece of news which emanated from Uttar Pradesh. It concerned pruning of guler (Ficus carica is an Asian species of flowering plants in the mulberry family, known as the common fig (or just the fig)) trees lying on the Kanwariya route as they are considered ‘inauspicious’ by them. For the uninitiated it may be told that the Kanwad Yatra commences in the Hindu calendar month of Shravan (second week of July) coinciding with the monsoon, during which devotees of Shiva (called as Kanwariya) walk miles to collect Ganga water, in Varanasi and other places.It was said that while reviewing preparations for the Kanwar Yatra, a meeting which was chaired by the CM himself, this announcement was made.

People who are in the know of things say that the claim that the tree is ‘inauspicious’ has been spread as a canard by a section of astrologers who say that if the pilgrims pass under it or perform religious acts under it, the ‘punya’ which one earns through such yatras get reduced. And it has led to bypassing of the tree by the Kanwariyas.

Question arises while it is for the devotee to decide what s/he should do about things s/he considers ‘inauspicious’ why should the government which claims to abide by a secular Constitution spend its resources to cater to the sentiments of a particular community and thus put an official stamp on their weird world view and commit acts which seem to contravene Constitution itself. In fact, of late this catering to sentiments of dominant community has gone to the ridiculous extent that the Yogi government has even ordered setting up of ‘Navgraha Vatika’, ‘Panchavati’ or ‘Harishankari’ in every tehsil of all 75 districts of the state during a plantation drive which will start from July 1. It is an attempt to plant specific kinds of trees which find mention in religious books of Hinduism including Vedas and Ramayana.

Pruning of particular trees – an act which has been questioned equally by rationalists and environmentalists – or participation in felicitation ceremony of exorcists rather pales in significance when education minister of a state (Rajasthan) makes a bizarre claim that cows exhale oxygen and thus puts his stamp on the ‘sacredness’ of the bovine in an ambience when cow related violence has seen quantum jump.

As a data analysis website has recently emphasised:

As many of 97% of these attacks were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came to power in May 2014, and about half the cow-related violence–32 of 63 cases–were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the attacks were reported, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until June 25, 2017.Of the 28 Indians who died over the seven-year period, 24 were Muslim, or 86%. As many as 124 people were also injured in these attacks. More than half (52%) of these attacks were based on rumours, our analysis found.

People who are still enamoured about the Modi magic may say that why single out only BJP ruled states, promotion of superstition has been an integral part of other ruling class parties as well. In fact, nobody can claim that, barring left parties, other parties and their governments do not engage in promoting/practising superstition. We have before us examples of governments who organised prayers at different religious places when the states ruled by them were facing a drought like situation (Congress) or there are examples like the newly created Telangana or for that matter even Andhra Pradesh where leaders are found spending crores of rupees to remove ‘Vastudosh’ from their houses or organise Yagyas to ‘propitiate gods’ so that the states ruled by them usher into prosperity. We can quote similar examples from our distant as well as not so distant past.

But it cannot be denied that promotion of superstition has gathered tremendous momentum since the ascendance of Hindutva at the Centre. And it has definite connection with the exclusivist worldview of RSS. Remember the manner in which Modi – who started his social-political life as a RSS Pracharak in his young age – as Prime Minister had linked ‘medical science to mythology’, citing “plastic surgery” and “genetic science” to explain the creation of Lord Ganesh and Karna respectively while inaugurating a Reliance Foundation hospital in October 2014.

Speaking at a function in Mumbai, Modi had said,

“We can feel proud of what our country achieved in medical science at one point of time. We all read about Karna in Mahabharat. If we think a little more, we realise that Mahabharat says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb.”

According to the text of the speech posted on the PMO website, he further said,

“We worship Lord Ganesh. There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery.”

It is no mere coincidence that ascent of right-wing Hindutva has also severely impacted the level of discussion in the Indian Science Congress – where there are instances of pseudo science being peddled as science – or funding of scientific institutions has been further curtailed to promote particular agenda. Cowpathy or cow science seems to be the new entrant to this club.

New Delhi: Cow science, or “cowpathy”, as it has been termed by Hindutva ideologues, is in for a new national level makeover. Last month, what was generally regarded as pseudo-science – or at best ‘fringe science’ – was elevated to the status of a major agenda for national level scientific research cutting across many scientific departments and national laboratories.

On April 25, the Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED) division of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) issued an office memorandum (OM) to constitute a National Steering Committee (NSC) for ‘Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya (SVAROP)’. The tenure of this 19-member committee will be three years.
(https://thewire.in/136259/panchgavya-svarop-iit-csir-cow-urine/)

It remains to be seen how things progress ahead?

The Prime Minister keeps talking about emergence of New India under his leadership. With victory in UP elections this voice has become more assertive.

A cursory glance at the unfolding scenario makes it clear that it is definitely a ‘New India’. An India which has rediscovered old prejudices, exclusions and discriminations and is surging ahead on the path of unreason decked with superstition..
 

This article was first published on Kafila Online.

The post Promoting Superstition – Everything Official About It! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Such is the advisory put out in the public interest by the Gujarat Gauseva and Gauchar Vikas Board, a government body, the Times of India has reported.

The Aarogya Geeta, while elaborating on the importance of cow urine, claims that sprinkling of cow urine can protect one from “evil forces like Dracula and Satan”. The great thing, we are told, is that gau mata’s beneficence is for all: religion, race or nationality no bar.

The advisory states, “Many diseases occur if evil forces or ghosts enter the human body . These are called Bhootmishtang diseases in the shashtras.”

Explaining how cow urine can combat the diseases caused by supernatural forces, the Aarogya Geeta says, “Lord Shankar is the god of all ghosts and the Ganga lives in his hair. Nandi (the holy bull in Hindu belief) is a vehicle of Lord Shankar”. “Cow urine contains the Ganga. Ghosts run away from cow urine because Nandi was the son of Gau Mata or mother cow,” elaborates the advisory.

The full report in the Times of India may be read here.
 

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