IIT Mandi Director Laxmidhar Behera stirred a row, yet again, after he asked students to vow not to eat meat if they have to become “good humans”, while claiming that landslides and cloudbursts in Himachal Pradesh are happening because of cruelty to animals.
While addressing the students, a purported video of which is doing the rounds on social media, Behera can be heard saying, “Himachal Pradesh will have a significant downfall…if we do. Not stop butchering animals. You are butchering animals there… the innocent animals. It has a symbiotic relationship with the degradation of the environment as well… which you cannot see right now but it will have…
“It is having landslides, cloudbursts and many other things again and again, these are all effects of cruelty on animals…people eat meat,” he adds.
The director goes on, “To become good human beings, what you have to do? No to meat eating,” he further said, and then went on to ask the students to vow not to eat meat.”
His remarks drew sharp response, with the Congress stating that the “flabbergasting statement from the Director of a prestigious institution” shows that he is “not fit” to hold the position.
Congress general secretary, communications in-charge, Jairam Ramesh said, “The PM spoke of plastic surgery being known to our ancestors. He also told children climate has not changed, while we have. A senior Minister confused Newton and Einstein while another justified excluding Darwin from textbooks.
“Now, this simply flabbergasting statement from the Director of a prestigious institution!!! He actually has shown he is not fit to hold the position. The longer he stays, more the damage he will do to the spirit of scientific temper,” Ramesh said.
“Science and spirituality is one thing, but science and crackpot theories that are put out by people in positions of power is quite another,” he said.
Another user, Professor Ravikant said, “IIT Mandi ranks in top 20 of India’s NIRF rankings. It’s an elite institute. It’s director claims that he can drive out ghosts by chanting and that eating meat causes landslides.”
“This is obviously very reassuring. Our institutions are in good hands,” he commented.
This is not the first time his statements have stirred a row. In 2022, days after he was appointed as the director, Behera, in a five-minute video clip on YouTube, spoke about his apparent act of exorcism to rid his friend’s apartment and parents of “evil spirits” through the chanting of holy mantras of “Hare Ram, Hare Krishna”.
When asked about the video, Behera told The Indian Express, “I narrated what I said. Ghosts exist, yes.”
Behera, according to the IIT Kanpur website, is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering. A PhD from IIT Delhi and a post-doc from German National Center for Information Technology, his areas of speciality are robotics and Artificial Intelligence.