TNI Bureau: Indian political psychologist Ashis Nandy landed in trouble for his controversial remark against the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. He has been summoned for questioning by the Rajasthan Police.

An FIR has been lodged against Nandy under Section 506 IPC (Criminal Intimidation) and the SC/STs (Prevention of Atrocities) Act after he made a defamatory remark against the socially backward people at the Jaipur Literature Festival on Saturday.

Nandy had apologised for his remarks, saying he was misunderstood, after facing criticism from political parties and writers. However, his controversial statement triggered strong reactions from the political parties like MNS, the Shiv Sena, the BJP, the RPI and Dalit organisations. They had submitted a memorandum to police seeking an FIR against the social theorist.

He was highly criticised after he said, “It will be an undignified and vulgar statement but the fact is that most of the corrupt come from the OBCs, Scheduled Castes and now increasingly the Scheduled Tribes. As long as this exists, I still have hope for our republic.”

Reacting to the statement Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said that the caste system was worse than slavery. “Slaves can be free, but there is no freedom from the caste system”, she added.

However, the political critic and author Nandy stood by his statement saying, it was pro-Dalit.