Chief guest Dr. Anand Ranganathan delivering a panel discussion in the Motivational Workshop on the path to a developed India at BDS International School. Awakening
Jagran correspondent, Meerut. A scientist by profession, a writer by heart, and an outspoken speaker on Hindu rights, Dr. Anand Ranganathan is such a personality who boldly raises the questions in the minds of crores of countrymen on the national platform and also demands answers. While answers to some have been received, efforts are still on to find others. On Saturday, he reached BDS International School to make the new generation realize their responsibilities, challenges, possibilities and the necessary preparations accordingly. In a conversation with reporter Amit Tiwari, he not only brought out those questions in his mind once again, but also challenged the society to find answers. You also read...
You are a scientist, but you also speak equally vociferously on society, history, education and politics. Do you have two personalities within you?
Science is a process that requires a lot of patience. We have a laboratory, a team and we are working in the field of molecular biology and biotechnology. Many times, even after working on an idea for four-five years, no results are achieved. Then it seems necessary to change direction a bit. I realized about 10–15 years ago that instead of being completely engrossed in one profession, there should be another field as well. So I started writing. I believe that if you have more than one path, you can switch. With this, the frustration of a single profession does not become a burden on you.
You are very vocal on issues related to Hindu society. What success are you hopeful about in uniting the country divided on caste, language and places?
I am not running any special campaign. I say only what I feel is right. It is important to clarify one thing that this issue is not about Hindu versus Muslim. This is a question of justice and discrimination. When I understood with facts that if there is systematic discrimination against any community at constitutional, legal, educational and social level, it is against Hindus, then I started speaking on it. We consider the present Indian government to be pro-Hindu but they too have not removed the discrimination that existed in the previous governments.
Just two days ago, a shameful judgment of the Supreme Court has come, in which RTE i.e. Right to Education has an obligation only on schools run by Hindus to reserve 25 percent seats. Is this not the responsibility of schools run by Muslim and Christian organizations? What could be a bigger discrimination than this? What kind of moral and ethical order is this in which direct discrimination is done? This has been going on since 2009. There was an amendment in 2011 but even BJP did not remove it.
It is often said that the present government is pro-Hindu. They also get votes on this basis. You don't seem to agree with this. Why?
For the last few years, I have been openly questioning whether there is even a single concrete pro-Hindu decision of the Modi government. Till date no one has been able to tell. The government may be pro-India, may be pro-justice, but it is not pro-Hindu.
And to be honest, he should not even be pro-Hindu. The foundation of democracy is justice. If there is justice, everyone will get it. Mosques were built by demolishing 40 thousand temples. It may be possible that not everyone gets back but they are at least allowed to go to court. Can't go there either. There are no German refugees in Germany, no British refugees in Britain but there are seven lakh Kashmiri Hindu refugees in India and January 19 is the anniversary of their eviction from Kashmir. The problem is that in many cases Hindus were not even given the right to approach the court.
Indian system of teaching has been included in the National Education Policy. Will we be able to adopt Indian values correctly in future?
On NEP I had said that how you teach matters more than what you teach. In this, that problem has now started getting resolved after 11 years. Even now, we have made our villains heroes in our books. Our heroes have been made villains in books. Still the one who burnt Nalanda, it took six months to burn 10 lakh books. The name of the nearest railway station to that university is Bakhtiyar.
Name of Aurangzeb Road changed but Babar Road is still there. Tipu Sultan is still taught in the same way. The irony is that the Left runs a campaign against the invaders like Cecil Rhodes etc. from outside the country by demolishing their statues, but when something happens in our country, they raise noise. This government will have to fix these problems.
You people openly express your views on Hindu society, but why are Muslim scholars not vocal on historical reforms and other topics?
It is a normal human tendency to want to remove something that is available without doing anything. They have become so satisfied with that society that they do not want to step back from it. Apart from gas cylinder subsidy, there is no other example in the country in which something is being given for free and people refuse to take it. Take the example of Waqf law. I have no problem with the Waqf Board, it is with the Waqf law. It was made a weapon. If we claimed any land as our own under the Waqf Act, we could not go to court against it. One has to go to Waqf Tribunal.
A parallel government is running. In the last 10 years, Waqf has claimed possession worth Rs 20 lakh crore. How can this be justified in our democracy? If you do not want to remove it in appeasement, then make a Sanatan Act also. Although every mosque is on Sanatan land, but when it will be made our own under the Sanatan Act and instead of the court, we will have to go to Sanatan Tribunal, then everything will be fine in 24 hours. Only Hindu temples are under state control and lakhs and crores of rupees are withdrawn from there. Foreigners coming to every coast of the country first went to Hindu temples because the entire economy and defense was operated from there. That is why the British controlled the eco system of Hindu temples. After them Congress and BJP are doing it. If you can't remove them then bring the mosques and churches also under control. This is a matter of justice and equality and not of Hindus and Muslims.
These reforms were expected from Modi government but why is it not able to do so even after getting majority?
That's where I am also searching. When I speak and ask, people have started giving me the title of Anti Modi. I have been asking this same question for the last 15–20 years. Earlier I used to ask Congress, today I am asking BJP. This is not an issue of any person or party. The only question is what is right for the country. Do what is right.
How do you view the ongoing controversies regarding Sanskrit education and language? Can Sanskrit become a bridge?
Today language has been unnecessarily made a tool of division. Even in Tamil Nadu, the film Parashakti has just been released in which the movement against the imposition of Hindi has been shown. Controversy has also started on this. Very few people know that Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar had said that Sanskrit should become the official language of India after 15 years of independence. Will those who oppose Sanskrit and RSS also speak against Ambedkar? We worship persons but do not follow their ideas. As a scientist, I believe that language is a medium of communication. The real question is what we are saying, not in which language.
How should the new generation, especially Gen-G, move forward with Indian values? Are we able to teach them or should they find their own ways to learn? My answer may surprise people. Don't teach her i.e. Zen-ji anything. We as a society have failed on many fronts and pass the burden of our failures on to the new generation. Today's generation has knowledge, resources and technology. With a mobile phone they can become the most educated person in the world. Let them choose their own path. Intelligence is relative.
We can solve the problems sitting in the classroom, but in a forest the local people will be more capable than us. Today when AI and tools like ChatGPT, Grok are available, we need to understand what children will do after this education. In the journal published in The Cell, 18 world class laboratories including MIT together made 41 million molecules with the help of AI using only five elements. Made 20, then seven and finally four molecules from it. These are the most effective antibiotics against hospital-acquired infections. What took humans 70 years, AI did in 15 days. In such a situation, what work will be left for scientists like us? We have to think beyond that, what will we do?
How real is the fear of jobs being lost due to AI?
Instead of being afraid, we need to plan to co-exist with AI. We will have to give it a new terminology instead of AI i.e. Artificial Intelligence. AI should be taught as a separate subject—not just as tools, but to explain how humans and AI will work together. This is AI, the essence of thousands of years of human wisdom. In Sweden, 32 percent of the work of chartered accountants is being done by AI. There is a legitimate fear of losing jobs but one should not be afraid of it.
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