Over 30 Members of Parliament belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Indian National Congress (INC) and other opposition parties have written to the President of India demanding that a committee formed by the Indian government to study Indian culture be disbanded. The MPs have stated that the 16 member committee constituted by the Ministry of Culture does not represent India's pluralism.
The letter from the parliamentarians comes after several leaders raised questions about the constitution of the committee.
The MPs have written, "Our country is having a great legacy of pluralism in its evolution and study naturally required inputs from the diverse cultures of the great nation. We wish to bring to your kind attention that there is no reflection of such a pluralistic society in this 16 member study group. There are no South Indians, Northeast Indians, minorities, Dalits or women. Almost all the members of the said committee belong to certain specific social groups which are in top of the caste hierarchy of the Indian society. None of the researchers of South Indian languages including Tamil which has a glorious history and recognised as a classical language by the Central government (are included)."
They have further questioned the intention behind such a committee.
"The composition itself raises many questions. Isn't there an India below Vindhya Hills? Is there no civilisation other than the Vedic civilisation? Is there no Ancient language here except Sanskrit? We doubt the intentions of the consultation of this committee neglecting gender sensitivity and diverse nationalities and social groups in this country," states the letter.
"The eminent scholars like John Marshall, Suniti Kumar Chatterjee, Iravatham Mahadevan, Tony Joseph and R Balakrishnan have made immense contributions in this field. We fear this committee may negate their positive contributions. We feel this committee with this composition may not have scientific outlook and may lead to distortion of history. It may defeat the very purpose of its stated objective," it adds.
The MPs have requested to intervene in the matter and advise the Union government to disband the expert committee.
DMK MP Kanimozhi was the first to raise objection to the lack of minority, Dalit, women and south Indian representatives in the committee. This was followed by a speech from CPI(M) MP Su Venkatesan in the parliament and opposition from JD(U) leader HD Kumarasamy and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami.
Members of Parliament letter to Prez to disband the expert committee formed by the Govt under Culture Ministry.
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The committee currently constituted consists of KN Dikshit, Chairman, Indian Archaeological society, Dr RS Bish, former Joint Director general, Archaeological survey of India, Dr BR Mani, Former Director General, National Museum, Prof Santosh Shukla, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Dr Ramesh Kumar Pandey, Vice Chancellor, Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Prof Makkhan Lal, Director, Institute of Heritage Management, Vivekananda International Foundation and several others.