Controversial sociologist Ashis Nandy leaves Jaipur lit fest, police seek session video

According to reports, police are seeking the video of Nandy''s session, even as angry reactions continue to be voiced over the controversial comment.

Police have registered a case against him, though Nandy later clarified he had been misquoted.

Dalit leader and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded his immediate arrest, while Congress leader and chief of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, P.L. Punia, Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Independent MP from Dausa, Kirori Meena, also joined the chorus.

Nandy was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival when he said: "It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from the OBCs (other backward classes) and scheduled castes and now, increasingly, the scheduled tribes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and lowest caste thinkers have also objected strongly to Nandy's controversial remark.

Congress Party spokesman Rashid Alvi said without taking Nandy's name: "I don't know who said and what was said. But nobody will approve this statement."

"It is unfortunate," he added.

The BJP is demanding a public apology from Nandy.

"Keeping the sanity of the whole situation, it would be desirable, we would request that he tenders a public apology and retracts his statement. The statement is against the spirit of India, it is against the Constitution and against individual," said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

A Dalit thinker, Chandrabhan Prasad, accused him of misusing his intellectual authority, as his statement lacked empirical evidence.

"If there is no data, if there is no evidence, then Ashis Nandy is misusing his intellectual authority that is unfortunate," said Prasad.

Another Dalit thinker, Tulsi Ram, said: "They suffered through out centuries from scarcity. So their corruption, to some extent, is the product of scarcity. But still I will claim there are few people among the SC, ST community as well as in OBC, who are corrupt. Most of the corruption cases infact belong to the upper castes in India."

Schedule Castes constitute lowest section of people in the caste ladder, who were segregated from the mainstream for centuries.

The Jaipur Literature Festival is the largest literary festival in Asia-Pacific. The five-day event features a wide array of authors from India and abroad, including Pakistan, was inaugurated on January 24.

ALSO READ

‘Problem is hypersensitive India, not Censor Board’

CP Joshi given rail portfolio, Sibal gets law

States consider VAT hike

Problem is hypersensitive India and political lobbies, not Censor Board, says Anurag Kashyap