Speaker A.N. Shamseer has termed the controversy surrounding his remarks on the tendency to replace scientific facts with myths ‘‘unfortunate,’‘ asserting that he had no intention of hurting religious sentiments.
‘’How can the promotion of scientific temper be described as hurting religious faith? Such discussions are unfortunate in a State like Kerala,’‘ Mr. Shamseer told a press conference held here on Wednesday in connection with the upcoming session of the Assembly.
Mr. Shamseer pointed out that Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion, and Article 51 A (h) speaks about promoting scientific temper. ‘‘How can anyone say that promoting scientific temper as a person holding a Constitutional post hurts religious sentiments,’‘ he asked.
On Nair Service Society general secretary Sukumaran Nair’s remarks criticising him, Mr. Shamseer said Mr. Nair had every right to voice his opinion. Everyone was entitled to his/her opinion and no one should try to force their opinions on others. ‘‘Can I insist that you share my opinion? I have my opinion, you have yours,’‘ he said, adding that he has not attempted to mix science and faith.
He said he had not directly ‘‘air-dropped’‘ into his present position as Speaker and no one could question his secular credentials. A ‘‘hate campaign’‘ was being carried out across the country and attempts were on to spread it to Kerala as well, he said to a question on Sangh Parivar forces trying to use his remarks as a political weapon.
On the Uniform Civil Code, Mr. Shamseer said that everyone was aware that it was impractical in a diverse, multireligious, multilingual country such as India.
