As oxymorons go, ' swadeshi science' is at best, dubious, and at worst, dangerous. It might provoke critical citizens of a modern and secular republic like India to recall their prime minister's use, at the inauguration of a state-of-the-art hospital, of the grafting of an elephant head onto a human body as an example not so much of a mythological creature as of the gloriousness of ancient Indian plastic surgery. But the promotion of swadeshi science is the express purpose of a non-governmental organization that is proving to be more governmental than expected. Four departments of the Narendra Modi government are spending three crore rupees each to organize the India International Science Festival jointly with this NGO - called Vijnana Bharati - which will also be mopping up the entire revenue from the stalls rented at this festival. Apart from the impropriety of such a mode of operation (at a time when there has been a massive crackdown by the Centre on other kinds of NGO funded indigenously as well as internationally), what such an event does to the idea of science by wedding it to the spirit of nationalism should also be something for the critical citizen to wonder about. Perhaps it is precisely such a critical spirit - inextricable from what most modern societies would regard as the scientific temperament - that Mr Modi's government wants to keep well within its control in the name of swadeshi.

Such an extravagant state-sponsored "festival" does not only undermine the principles of science and technology by harnessing them to regressive ideology; it also makes a mockery of scientific education by being ridiculously condescending to a few thousand students brought into Delhi from the villages for the inculcation of the scientific spirit. Unsurprisingly, the rubrics under which the encouragement of scientific knowledge and ideas are going to be channelled at this event include Mr Modi's pet schemes: Make in India, Swachh Bharat, and Smart City. This event will be hosted at the National Physical Laboratory, which is part of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Lest all this seem provincial, scientific internationalism will be embodied in 550 young students dressing up as Albert Einstein to achieve a new high in the Guinness Book of World Records. Will the 21st century soon be declared the new anti-national?