Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala have expressed their disagreement with Centre’s decision to name the second campus of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), coming up in Thiruvananthapuram, after late RSS chief and Hindutva ideologue M S Golwalkar.
In a letter to Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Harsh Vardhan, Chief Minister Vijayan has stated that this institute is a premier research institute and has been above political divides.
“The Government of Kerala is of the opinion that the campus be named after some eminent Indian scientist of international repute, instead of the proposed name. This will keep up the reputation of the institution and help avoid controversies in public domain,” Vijayan said.
Opposition leader and senior Congress politician Ramesh Chennithala has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that the second campus of the RGCB should also be named after Rajiv Gandhi.
“Strongly condemn Central Government’ move to name the new block of Rajiv Gandhi Biotechnology Centre after Gowalkar. Before giving his name Modi Government should explain to the people of Kerala about the contributions made by Gowalkar to our nation,” Chennithala said.
On Friday, Union Minister Vardhan had stated that he is 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.
, coming up in Thiruvananthapuram, after late RSS chief and Hindutva ideologue M S Golwalkar.){kind=link}