An Indian-origin biologist, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2009, has warned India is "taking a wrong turn" with the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill—which allows for granting Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan—was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan expressed his opinion on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in an interview to The Telegraph newspaper, which is based in Kolkata. Though he was raised in India, Ramakrishnan holds dual British and US nationality. In addition to his research work, Ramakrishnan is also president of the Royal Society, which counts leading scientists across the world as its members.
Ramakarishnan told The Telegraph that he decided to speak out on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill because "...I am extremely fond of India. I always think of India as representing a great tolerant ideal and I also want India to succeed.”
Giving his personal opinion about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Ramakrishnan said, "Any sensible court would probably find it (the bill) unconstitutional."
Praising the youth of India as being "very enterprising", Ramakrishnan said, “what we don’t want is to be distracted from that mission of nation-building by creating divisions within the country”. Continuing his criticism of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Ramakrishnan said he felt "very strongly that telling 200 million people ‘Look, your religion doesn’t actually have the same status as all the others’ is a very divisive message to the country.”
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Ramakrishnan stressed that India was not Pakistan where only 1 per cent of the population was non-Muslim. “So we are not Pakistan. We are different in that we are secular,” Ramakrishnan argued.
Ramakrishnan told The Telegraph that academics “want an environment in which everybody is recognised based on their talent without prejudice, any discrimination, because science works best when everyone with the ability is allowed to contribute".
He warned of the dangers of having ideologies in science, warning it would destroy science. Ramakrishnan cited the example of Nazi Germany, saying "German science took 50 years to recover from Hitler."
Ramakrishnan has a been vocal opponent of a 'no deal' Brexit on the grounds that it would affect the progress of science.
