(Mukta Dabholkar (centre) and Jayant Narlikar (fourth from left) at the event on Sunday. (Express photo/Pavan Khengre)
A day after the CBI arrested Sachin Andure in the Narendra Dabholkar murder case, his daughter, Mukta Dabholkar, and eminent cosmologist Jayant Narlikar, expressed hope that the investigative agencies will soon unmask the conspiracy and arrest all culprits.
The two were speaking at an event organised to mark the eve of National Scientific Temper Day, jointly organised by the All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN) and the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS) in Pune on Sunday.
“I am satisfied that one of the killers of Dr Dabholkar has been nabbed. I hope all the perpetrators are identified. I wish Dr Dabholkar’s works continue to be propagated,” said Narlikar, during his address titled ‘Living in 21st century’.
Narlikar also claimed Indian society is “far away from appreciating scientific living” and many people were “living with an 18th century thinking”.
“I am worried to see some Indians have still not grown beyond 18th century thinking and as a society, we are still far away from fully appreciating scientific living,” said Narlikar. He said the young generation should cultivate a habit to verify facts before accepting claims.
Mukta Dabholkar said followers of Dabholkar need to build dialogue with each section to spread his beliefs. “We need to have strong dialogues with people in the society so that they can be enlightened and all previous unscientific knowledge can be erased,” she said.
She added, “Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh were eliminated strategically because their works were seen as serious threat to ideologies of a section of society. Their murderers have direct links and I hope the agencies can nab the main conspirators,” she alleged.
She said the number of MANS centres has increased to 325, from 215 centres five years ago when Dabholkar was killed, indicating that more people were following Dabholkar’s ideology.
But five years after Dabholkar’s murder, there is still a large threat to people promoting his ideology, she said. “The threat looms large and all of us need to surpass such strong opposition in order to shape a society that will appreciate scientific thinking,” added Mukta.
In her address, she also took a jibe at a reported comment made by Sambhaji Bhide, which suggested that consuming mangoes could lead to the birth of a baby boy. Vivek Montero from AIPSN alleged right-wing politics is harming scientific activities and this is being done in a planned manner by altering school syllabi.
He alleged, “Anti-science and pseudo-science are closely linked. With the growing right-wing politics across the globe and in India, there is a constant attack on scientific theories. Sadly, government office-bearers from the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Department of Science and Technology, Chief Ministers, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, are supporting this narrative.”
He alleged that school syllabi in some Indian states promote non-scientific content.
“Scientific temper and democracy are symbiotic. Scientists can neither be intimidated nor eliminated. National Scientific Temper Day is a call to all Indian citizens to work together to strengthen our democracy,” he said.