Thiruvananthapuram: Union minister of state V Muraleedharan on Sunday backed the Centre's decision to name a research institute here after late RSS ideologue M S Golwakar whom he called a "patriot".

The BJP-led government's decision to name the second campus of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for BioTechnology (RGCB) as 'Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection' has kicked up a row in the state with Left parties and the Congress, who call Golwalker a communalist, questioning the move.

"What is wrong in naming an institute after a patriot?," the minister asked when reporters asked about the controversy over the Centre's decision.

To drive his point home, Muraleedharan invoked the famous boat race named after former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

“Has Nehru ever participated in any sports activity?," Muraleedharan asked.

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An impromptu boat race was conducted in 1952 in honour of Nehru during his visit to Alappuzha, and it has become an annual event hosted at the Punnamada lake in August.

The minister said he failed to understand on what basis Golwalkar's name had become unacceptable.

Golwalkar was a zoology professor in Banaras University, he said.

"The RGCB governing council took this decision and no one else has a role in it," he told the media at Kasaragod.

Union Health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had on Friday announced that the second campus of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for BioTechnology(RGCB), a major knowledge centre and hub for mid and high level innovation, will be named as 'Shri Guruji Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar National Centre for Complex Disease in Cancer and Viral Infection.'

CPI leader Panniyan Ravindran said the state would not accept this decision of the Centre.

He alleged that a conscious effort was being made to impose wrong facts as history.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had shot off a letter to the Union health minister on Saturday and urged him to reconsider the move.

While the Left parties have alleged that BJP was trying to bring communal elements to the forefront, Congress has questioned the contribution of Golwalkar in the field of science and technology in India.

(With PTI inputs)

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