Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the said attempt to conduct a study on ethnic purity, declaring that what the country wants is job security and economic prosperity and no more ‘ethnic purity’.
Rahul was reacting to a news document which claimed that the Ministry of Culture was “in the process of acquiring an array of DNA profiling kits and related modern-day machines to establish genetic history and indicate the purity of races in India”.
“Last time a country had a subculture ministry studying ‘Ethnic Purity’, it didn’t stop well. India needs job security and economic prosperity, not PM, ‘Ethnic Purity’,” Rahul tweeted, tagging the news report.
Rahul was once apparently referring to Hitler-era Germany when he promoted the idea of racial purity and concentrated the Jews.
Soon after the news file arrived, the Ministry of Culture said it was “misleading, mischievous and contrary to the truth”.
While it no longer denied the story outright, the ministry clarified that the proposal was once “not linked to the establishment of genetic history and ‘identified the purity of races in India'” as indicated in the article.
The Morning Standard story quoted archaeologist Vasant S. Shinde, assistant professor at the Bengaluru-based National Institute of Advanced Studies and director of the Rakhigari research project, as saying that “one can say to an extent that this would be an attempt. Indicative of the sanctity of caste in India”. Culture Secretary Govinda Mohan met Shinde and various professionals on the issue.
