Understanding science and religion for a better appreciation was Nehru’s legacy of his scientific temper. The second day of the Kerala Literature Festival witnessed an enlivening session on the scientific temper of Jawaharlal Nehru. Writers Anand, Hameed Chennamagalur and CS Balakrishnan discussed on the relevance of the rationality in our beliefs in the context at the session moderated by TP Kunjhikannan.
Anand began the session explaining how Nehru evolved a politically and socially relevant scientific temper, overcoming the then existing social circumstances. "Nehru was a man who fought for two phenomena, science and secularism,'' said Hameed Chennamangalur. He added that Nehru was a man who discouraged everything that wasn’t scientifically proved.
“Indian secularism is a hybrid product. There were two channels of secularism then, one- Based secular humanism and the other based on neo-Hindu revivalism.
Touching upon Nehru’s vision of an urban India, the moderator TP Kunjhikannan, took the session forward, letting the discussion to touch upon the unscientific beliefs we still follow even after seven decades post-independence. “Nehru worked to build a scientific temper which would uplift the downtrodden people of India,” quoted CS Balakrishnan.
The session concluded tracing the reasons for Nehru’s vision for a modern-urban India, rooted in science.