On Monday (18 September), Professor C.K. Raju retorted to an article published by The Print revolving around his lecture given at the Vivekananda International Foundation on 14 September. Addressing the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Print, Shekhar Gupta, Professor Raju shared a post on X calling out the ‘journalistic malpractice’ for publishing the article based on his claims without having done the due diligence.
Accusing that the reporter lacked ‘competence’ to report on a scholarly discussion, he said, “It is unfortunate that the reporter you (Shekhar Gupta) designated to report, on a scholarly talk on the philosophy of mathematics, not only lacked the mathematical training to understand it, but was even unable to identify the right “peers” to consult.”
Dear Mr Shekhar Gupta,
— Prof. C. K. Raju (@CKRaju14) September 18, 2023
(@ShekharGupta)
This refers to the article
"‘Einstein was a fraud, West stole calculus from India’ – mathematician’s claims slammed by peers" by Mohana Basu, ThePrint, 15 September, 2023, reporting on my lecture of 14 September at the Vivekananda…
The article in question was titled “‘Einstein was a fraud, West stole calculus from India’ – mathematician’s claims slammed by peers”. Written by The Print’s Mohana Basu, it was published on 15 September 2023.
Professor Raju also alleged that the reporting reeked of ‘journalistic malpractice’. He accused the reporter of not doing proper research and background checks on the so-called peers whose opinions were incorporated to show his intentions in a bad light and paint him as a ‘Hindutva conspiracy’ theorist.
Claiming that the article was a clear act of defamation, he added that the reporter twisted and distorted facts to suit her simplistic narrative that any challenge to the West is a Hindutva conspiracy.
Highlighting his acclaimed decade-long work on Mathematics particularly on Calculus, he added, “Her attempt to paint my entire lifework on Einstein and calculus too as a ridiculous Hindutva conspiracy is not only highly unfair but is a clear act of defamation. This is deliberate because she has not engaged with a single fact or argument in my numerous publications on these two issues: her only point is they are surprising to her and hence wrong.”
Going ahead, the Mathematics Professor replied saying that the so-called peers, the reporter consulted were neither competent to speak on issues of Einstein and calculus, nor did they give any fact or argument to counter his claims.
Subsequently, he claimed that the news portal was misleading the readers with a suggestive headline as none of the “peers” countered him on facts.
Background of the controversy
This all began when an Indian Mathematician and Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Education in Pune, Professor CK Raju gave a lecture at the Vivekananda International Foundation on 14 September. The next day, The Print published an article spun around his claims made during the VIF lecture which was titled ‘Practical Ganita vs Religious Mathematical’.
Regarding his lecture, the article stated, “In a sparsely populated conference room, with barely 40 people in attendance, the talk began with chants of ‘Om’ and Sanskrit shlokas,” insinuating that the greetings were a giveaway of his Hindu roots, a bad omen for secular Mathematicians.
The article noted that there was no mathematician in the audience to question Professor Raju’s claims. However, on its part, it established that the Mathematical community slammed Professor Raju’s claims by dedicating a long one-line. The article states, “His (Professor Raju’s) evangelism, however, found few takers among his peers.”
The article didn’t further delve into the names or opinions of these so-called peers that slammed Professor Raju for arguing that West stole several ideas that had been established by Indians decades if not centuries ago.
Professor C. K. Raju holds a BSc (Hons) in physics, and an MSc in mathematics from Mumbai, followed by a PhD from the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. Apart from teaching, he joined C-DAC and is said to have played a key role in building the first Indian supercomputer Param.
