A petition signed by scientists and academicians including Naresh Dadich, former Director of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), G. Rajasekaran of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), and others from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, was sent to the President. In response to recent incidents of intolerance, including the killing of Kannada thinker M. M. Kalburgi, the scientists urged President Pranab Mukherjee, to initiate “suitable actions”.
“We, the scientists, are concerned about the recent developments with reference to intolerance, polarisation and spread of communal hatred resulting in the death of innocent people, rationalists… We urge you to take serious note of these developments and initiate suitable actions…”
A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb, the scientists pointed out, and appealed to the Centre and state governments to act against “anti-human, anti-civilisational acts.”
“A highly polarised community is like a nuclear bomb close to criticality. It can explode any time and drive the nation to utter chaos. This is a highly unstable atmosphere and we should do everything in our hands to defuse the disparity, and enlighten society in scientific spirit… This is an appeal to the government to act swiftly to stop this mayhem which is victimising innocent people for eating beef, sensible people for being against superstition, RTI activists or whistle blowers and many more innocent people with human values… It is not just victimising innocent and enlightened people but killing them…”
