Vigyan Bharati, which is one of largest science network of India and an organisation sponsored by the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh or RSS, has shown its displeasure with PM Modi publicly after being reportedly snubbed by him at the 103rd Indian Science Congress in Mysuru.
Modi had refused to confer an award to Vigyan Bharati at the inaugural function of the Indian Science Congress that he inaugurated on Monday in Mysuru, reported NDTV.
The members of Vigyan Bharati, commonly known as VIBHA, felt that this could perhaps be because Modi wanted to stay away from a controversy or the intensification of freeze in his relationship with the RSS.
Following Modi’s last minute decision not to honour Vijnana Bharati at the Indian Science Congress, A Jayakumar, Secretary General of Vigyana Bharathi released a press statement after the inaugural session of the 103rd Indian Science Congress.
"This is very sad for the scientific fraternity. It is not apt for the government. We expect the PM will call students and teachers in Delhi to felicitate them in a fitting moment," he said.
He said, “The last minute denial of award to VIBHA in Indian Science Congress 2016 (ISC) by PM in the inaugural function, for its unique achievement of becoming the first organisation to receive Guinness Book of World Records [sic] in the field of science from India, has been a rude shock to the leaders of the organisation and scientific fraternity as a whole,.”
Scroll reported that the officials in the RSS, however perceived this event as yet another sign of friction in the prime minister's relationship with RSS. There have been many indications of the stress between the prime minister and the RSS intensifying, after the Bihar assembly elections in November 2015.