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By:

Kiran D. Tare

21 August 2024 at 11:23:13 am

A Scientist beyond Mockery

While Indian politics has never been particularly gentle towards intellectuals, it was unusual even by Parliament’s standards for the Director of one of India’s foremost technological institutions to be dismissed with a sneer. Opposition leader and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shameful reference to Professor Veezhinathan Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, as a “gaumutra expert,” reduced a lifetime of scien tific accomplishment to a sarcastic political...

A Scientist beyond Mockery

While Indian politics has never been particularly gentle towards intellectuals, it was unusual even by Parliament’s standards for the Director of one of India’s foremost technological institutions to be dismissed with a sneer. Opposition leader and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shameful reference to Professor Veezhinathan Kamakoti, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, as a “gaumutra expert,” reduced a lifetime of scien tific accomplishment to a sarcastic political label besides exposing dynastic arrogance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and charged with recommending robust, transparent, and leakproof measures to overhaul India’s public examination systems following widespread paper leak controversies. But rather than engage with solutions to problems that have resulted in the controversies, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra chose the path of cheap theatricality. Snickering from her parliamentary perch, she dismissed Prof. Kamakoti as a “gaumutra expert”. The remark immediately drew a scathing open letter from over 200 university vice-chancellors and eminent academics, who rallied to Kamakoti’s support and condemned her for diminishing scholarship itself. More fundamentally, Vadra’s sneer exposed the deep-seated pathology of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty: a reflex of aristocratic condescension toward self-made intellect, combined with an ingrained disdain for India’s indigenous traditions. Unlike Priyanka Gandhi, Professor Kamakoti is not a beneficiary of ancestral political inheritance but an intellectual titan forged entirely by merit. Holding an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT Madras, Kamakoti has spent decades on the front lines of information security and VLSI design. His crowning achievement was in leading the team that engineered Shakti, India’s first industry-grade, open-source RISC-V microprocessor that fundamentally reshaped the nation’s technological trajectory. Shakti provided India with a blueprint for true silicon sovereignty. Kamakoti’s work extends to aerospace-grade chips designed alongside ISRO, over 150 peer-reviewed international papers, and pivotal roles on the National Security Advisory Board. Under his directorship since 2022, IIT Madras has consistently held the No. 1 position in engineering in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Yet Kamakoti’s genius also lies in tangible wealth creation. The IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), nurtured under his leadership, has spawned a portfolio of over 540 startups valued at approximately Rs. 74,000 crore ($8 billion), generating more than 11,000 direct high-tech jobs. Kamakoti’s record speaks of a scholar who stayed in India to forge its critical infrastructure and empower a generation of young innovators. The point is why Priyanka Gandhi Vadra felt entitled to mock him? The controversy stems from remarks Kamakoti made regarding ethnoveterinary traditions, where he cited scientific literature discussing the antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties of bovine bio-fluids - a field actively published in peer-reviewed global journals, including Nature. It seems that for the Gandhi family, any intellectual inquiry that touches upon ancient Indian heritage or traditional knowledge systems is an immediate target for ridicule. For decades, the Congress hierarchy has operated under an unearned superiority complex that views Hindu traditions as some backward superstition to be mocked from the high towers of westernized privilege. The contrast between the scholar and the dynast could not be starker. Professor Kamakoti is a world-class computer scientist who earned his platform through decades of gruelling research, building microprocessors and billion-dollar startup ecosystems. Priyanka Gandhi is a political heir whose primary qualification for public office remains her surname, possessing a portfolio of inherited political capital and a distant diploma in Buddhist Studies. When the academics signed an open letter in support of Kamakoti, while warning that such dismissive labelling risks undermining the constitutional duty to develop a scientific temper, they pinpointed the heart of the issue. True scientific temper means testing hypotheses with rigor, regardless of their cultural origins. True ignorance is mocking what one lacks the intellect to understand. The sharp public backlash against Vadra’s comments also reflects a profound shift in the Indian electorate. The era in which hereditary elites could belittle self-made scholars without accountability has come to a close. In a modern India driven by chip designers, space missions, and digital enterprise, the nation’s true heroes are men like Kamakoti, builders who create value through pure intellect, and not platinum-spooned dynasts whose sole claim to power is ancestral pedigree. In attempting to humiliate an eminent scientist, Priyanka Gandhi did not diminish Professor Kamakoti; she merely laid bare the intellectual vacuum of her own political lineage. When forced to choose between a self-made technocrat advancing national sovereignty and a political heir armed only with arrogance, a rising India has already made its choice.

India working on logistics of Tahawwur Rana's extradition

  • PTI
  • Feb 14, 2025
  • 3 min read

Updated: Feb 18, 2025

Tahawwur Rana

Washington: India is working on the logistics of Tahawwur Rana's surrender and extradition from the US, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has said, as President Donald Trump announced that his administration has given the go-ahead to extradite the 26/11 terror attack accused “to face justice".

“This is an issue on which the US authorities have taken very clear decisions. I think you've seen the President announce it himself from the White House podium" the decision of the US to extradite Rana, Misri said at a press conference here on Thursday.


During a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration has approved the extradition of "very evil" Tahawwur Rana, wanted by Indian law enforcement agencies for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, "to face justice in India”.


In response to a question by PTI on the timeframe by when Rana will be extradited to India, Misri said: "We are working on the logistics of his surrender and extradition to India. There are a few final steps to be completed. The two sides are in touch on this particular issue.”


The India-US joint statement issued during the Prime Minister's visit to the US notes that Modi and Trump reaffirmed that the global scourge of terrorism must be fought and terrorist safe havens eliminated from every corner of the world.

“They committed to strengthen cooperation against terrorist threats from groups, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jaish-e Mohammad, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba in order to prevent heinous acts like the attacks in Mumbai on 26/11 and the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan on August 26, 2021," the joint statement said.


“Recognising a shared desire to bring to justice those who would harm our citizens, the US announced that the extradition to India of Tahawwur Rana has been approved," it said.


The leaders further called on Pakistan to expeditiously bring to justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai, and Pathankot attacks and ensure that its territory is not used to carry out cross-border terrorist attacks.

"The leaders also pledged to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors,” the joint statement added.

Rana, a Canadian national of Pakistani origin, is currently lodged at a metropolitan detention centre in Los Angeles. He is known to be associated with Pakistani-American terrorist David Coleman Headley, one of the main conspirators of the 26/11 attacks.

Speaking at the joint press meet, Trump said "Today I am pleased to announce that my administration has approved the extradition of one of the plotters and very evil people of the world, and having to do with the horrific Mumbai terrorist attack, to face justice in India. So, he is going back to India to face justice."


The extradition of Rana was cleared by the US Supreme Court in January as it rejected his review petition in the case.


India last month said it was working with American authorities for the early extradition of Rana.


"The US Supreme Court on January 21 declined to hear a petition from the accused. We are now working with the US side on procedural issues for early extradition to India of the accused in the Mumbai terror attack," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said.


In November 2012, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving gunman among the Pakistani group, was hanged to death in Yerawada Jail in Pune.

-PTI

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