Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam Health Minister has kicked up a storm with his comment that people develop cancer and other life-threatening diseases because of their sins. The minister called these illnesses ‘divine justice’ at a time when there are 25 lakh people living with cancer in the country and over 7 lakh new patients who are registered every year.
ThePrint asks: Sins cause cancer: Has Himanta set off a religion vs science debate?
My comment about karma has been taken out of context. I was addressing a meeting of officers against whom I had received corruption complaints. So I was telling them not to take bribes or they will suffer some kind of karmic deficiency in their next life. I said if you do this, then law may not catch you, but God will catch up with you in your next life. And then I elaborated what I meant and gave examples. I said that you may face many hardships and suffering like accidents, family troubles, cancer and other instances of fall from grace.
This was my way of making them understand the importance of good deeds to the officers. I was telling them not to be corrupt. I was using a common, everyday metaphor that all Hindus use. Every Hindu has grown up with their parents, including my own, telling us that if you sin, you will face suffering and illness in your next birth. This is what our religion teaches us. This is there in the Bhagwat Gita which has been there since ancient times. Why is there a debate about what I said? Why don’t these people conduct the debate on the Bhagwat Gita? After all, I only repeated what is in the Gita.
If people don’t want to look at the context in which I said these things and just want to pull out one word in a long sentence, then that is proof of their karmic deficiency.
Chidambaram tweeted it and then Siddhartha Mukherjee tweeted it. I would like to ask them one question: if two people are chewing tobacco, why does only one of them get cancer? There is some other factor at work here. It is because everything is linked to divinity.
I am not saying to hospital patients what sins did you commit in your previous life? I am just using a Hindu metaphor.
The officers I was addressing got my message in the right light. They have pledged to me that they will not indulge in corrupt activities any longer.
Himanta Biswa Sarma is the Health Minister of Assam.