CPI(M) backs scientists returning awards

CPI (M) today came out in support of scientists protesting alleged communal incidents saying the party stands in solidarity with the scientific community which is "deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance" that claimed the lives of three rationalists.
"After writers, now scientists returned their awards and wrote to the President. CPI (M) stands in solidarity with them.
"The scientific community is deeply concerned with the climate of intolerance and ways in which science and reason are being eroded in the country," the Left party said in a post on Facebook.
CPI (M) further said it is the same climate of "intolerance" and "rejection" of reason that resulted in Dadri lynching episode over rumour of beef consumption and assassinations of Professor M M Kalburgi, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar and senior CPI leader Govind Pansare.

"Kalburgi, Dabholkar and Pansare - all three fought against superstition and obscurantism to build a scientific temper in our society," the party added.
Eminent scientist Pushpa Mittra Bhargava today said he is returning his Padma Bhushan award accusing the NDA government of trying to turn India into a "Hindu religious autocracy".
Bhargava's decision came even as he joined a another group of scientists who came out with an online statement expressing concern over "ways in which science and reason are being eroded".
On Tuesday, a group of scientists had petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee, voicing concern over incidents of intolerance, including the killing of Kalburgi, and urged him to initiate "suitable actions".