The Hindu : National : Manmohan criticised for remark against academics

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Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

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National

Manmohan criticised for remark against academics

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 6. Left-leaning academics have taken offence to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's observation that he was "opposed to fundamentalism of all types; be it of the Left or the Right''.

Reacting to this comment made by Dr. Singh at his press conference this past weekend, the historian, Irfan Habib, today said: "By making such statements, the Prime Minister is playing into the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).''

Addressing a press conference organised by Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT) here, Prof. Habib asked: "What has Left fundamentalism got to do with books written by Bipin Chandra who extolled Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru? If this is the case, then both Gandhi and Nehru are also Left fundamentalists. The Prime Minister must explain what he means by Left fundamentalism or he will be left alone.''

Further, he said, by making such a statement, Dr. Singh had accepted half of the RSS case that the books — removed by the former Human Resource Development Minister, Murli Manohar Joshi — were biased.

Other academics at the press conference — Gita Hariharan, Amiya Bagchi and Prabhat Patnaik — drew attention to the fact that the books introduced by the Joshi regime were full of mistakes with some of them included plagarised material.

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