RGCB controversy: Was Nehru a sportsman to have boat race named after him, asks V Muraleedharan

Muraleedharan defends naming Thiruvananthapuram-based RGCB's second campus after RSS ideologue Golwalkar
Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan. (Photo | Twitter/ @VMBJP)
Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan. (Photo | Twitter/ @VMBJP)

KASARAGOD: Union minister of state for external affairs and BJP leader V Muraleedharan dragged Jawaharlal Nehru into the controversy over naming the second campus of Thiruvananthapuram-based Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology after RSS ideologue MS Golwalkar.

Which sports did Nehru play to have a boat race named after him, asked Muraleedharan. He was in Kasaragod to campaign for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the local body election on Sunday.

The junior minister said Golwalkar was a professor of zoology at the Banaras Hindu University. He was pursuing a PhD in marine biology when he discontinued his research to join the RSS, said Muraleedharan.

Golwalkar dropped out of the research institute in Chennai in 1929, the same year he joined, because of financial reasons. He joined BHU as a lecturer on a two-year contract. He associated himself with the RSS after the teaching tenure. 

"If the institute (in Thiruvananthapuram) cannot be named after Golwalkar, no institution in Kerala can be named after Left leaders jailed for sedition," Muraleedharan said.

Several institutions in Kerala were named after communist leaders who said India did not get real independence. He did not name the leaders or gave the context of such statements.

When C Achutha Menon was the chief minister and K Karunakaran was the Congress leader, a government college in Perinthalmanna was named after IUML president Pookoya Thangal. "The Congress had no heartburns when a government college was named after a Muslim League leader," Muraleedharan said.

Many institutions were named after Indira Gandhi, who imposed an Emergency and curbed the freedom of the press, he said.

Addressing a function organised by RGCB last week, Union minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan said, “I am happy to understand that this research facility will be named as Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection”.

After the announcement, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to the minister asking him to reconsider the decision, if already taken. The chief minister suggested that the centre be named after an eminent Indian scientist.

"This will keep up the reputation of the institution and help avoid controversies in the public domain," he wrote.

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wrote on social media: “So the 2nd campus of Thiruvananthapuram's RGCB is to be named 'Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection!' What is MSG's contribution to science other than promoting the disease of communalism?” Tharoor said.

Nehru Trophy

To be sure, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race came into being after Nehru visited Alappuzha in 1952. Impressed by the impromptu snake boat race organised to welcome him, Nehru returned to Delhi and sent a silver replica of a snake boat with the inscription: "To the winners of the boat race which is a unique feature of community life in Travancore Cochin."

In 1954, the race -- organised by the district administration -- was for the Prime Minister's Trophy. Later, it was renamed Nehru's Trophy.
 

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com