"Modi Govt Most Anti-intellectual and Most Anti-Science in Indian History"

"Modi Govt most anti-intellectual and most anti-science in Indian history": Ramachandra Guha to Karan Thapar for The Wire

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In an interview to discuss the deportation of one of the world's most renowned hindi scholars and Professor Emeritus at SOAS, Francesca Orsini, Ramachandra Guha, one of India's most highly regarded historians, author and political commentator, has said: "The Modi government is the most anti-intellectual and the most anti-science government in Indian history". He says it’s attitude and behaviour is retarding and holding back India's progress and the worst part is they seem to be doing this willingly. He described the situation as "dire".



In a 25-minute interview to Karan Thapar for The Wire, Dr. Guha described Professor Orsini's deportation as "depressing, shocking, absolutely appalling, utterly puzzling and bizarre". He said this deportation is the “mark of a government that is insecure, paranoid and even stupid”.



Dr. Guha described Professor Orsini as “the leading scholar of hindi outside of India with few Indian peers". He said her work is “scrupulously scholarly”.



Whilst Ramachandra Guha believes the appropriate thing for the Home Ministry to do is to apologize to Prof. Orsini, he doesn’t believe they will do so publicly. Instead, he said they should “privately convey that a grievous error” has been made and that Professor Orsini would be welcome in India whenever she chooses to come.



I will stop there. If you want to understand both the unjust and unforgivable way Professor Orsini has been treated but also the wider and pervasive trampling upon of academic freedoms in India this is an interview I recommend you watch.



Dr. Guha accepts that earlier governments have also attempted to influence academic decisions and faculty positions but he argues that the situation has got incomparably worse under the Modi government.



Here is the link to the interview:


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