Bharatiya Janata Party MP Satyapal Singh again questioned Darwin's theory of evolution on Friday saying human beings are descendants of sages and not monkeys as propounded by the British scientist.
While speaking in Lok Sabha during a discussion on Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2019, Singh said Indian culture has always valued human beings.
"It is our belief that we are descendant of rishis (sages)," he said.
His remark drew sharp retort from the Opposition benches.
The BJP MP from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh had earlier too rejected Darwin's theory saying it "scientifically wrong".
When he was Minister of State for Human Resource Development, he had said he does not consider himself a descendant of monkeys.
Singh had also emphasised on the need to change school and college curriculum teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.
Reacting to Singh's statement, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham MP Kanimozhi said, "Unfortunately, my ancestors are not rishis. My ancestors are homo sapiens, as science says, and my parents are Shudras."
"They were not even born of any god, or part of any god. They were born outside and I am here and many people from my state are here because of the social justice movement and the human rights which we fought for till today and we would continue doing that," she added.
Opposing Singh's argument, Trinamool Congress MP Suagata Roy said the remark is an antithesis of the Constitution.
"Article 51(A), sub-Section (h) of the Constitution says that it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform. What Satyapal ji has said is that we have not evolved from monkeys.
He is denying the theory of evolution of Darwin," Roy said.
