Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in the Tamil Nadu city of Tirunelveli decided on Wednesday to withdraw a book written by Arundhati Roy from its syllabus following a complaint by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, it reported. The Hindu. The author said that “she was not at all surprised or shocked by the decision.”
Roy Walking with the comrades, a book based on his visit to the Maoist camps, was part of the university’s study program since 2017.
“A committee composed of academic deans and members of the board of studies considered the complaint and decided to withdraw the book, as it might be inappropriate to teach a controversial book to students,” said Vice Chancellor K Pitchumani. The Indian Express. “We have replaced it with M Krishnan’s My Native Land: Essays on Nature. “
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s Dakshin Tamil Nadu Deputy Secretary C Vignesh filed a complaint with university authorities accusing the book of “openly supporting the killing fields and riots of anti-national Maoists” The Hindu. He also threatened to launch protests and bring the matter to the attention of the central government if there was a delay in the decision.
“It is very unfortunate that this book has been in the curriculum for the past three years,” the ABVP wrote in the complaint letter, according to Rashtriya spokesman Swayamsevak Sangh. Organizer. “All these years, young students have been taught Maoist thoughts and ideologies.”
Roy, meanwhile, said in a statement that it was his duty to write the book but not fight for its place in a university’s curriculum. The author added that she had no idea her book was part of the curriculum, but was happy that it had been taught for several years. He also said that the decision did not surprise or surprise him.
“When I learned of Manomaniam Sundaranar University’s decision to remove my book Walking With the Comrades from their curriculum following the threats and pressure of ABVP, strangely enough, I was more happy than sad because I had no idea. that was in the curriculum of the first place. I am glad that it has been taught for several years. I am not in the least shocked or surprised that it has now been removed from the syllabus. It was my duty as a writer to write it. It is not my duty to fight for your place in a college curriculum. That is for others to do or not. Either way, it has been widely read and as we know the bans and purges do not prevent the writers from being read. This narrow, superficial and insecure attitude towards the literature that our current regime shows is not only damaging to its critics. It is detrimental to millions of his own followers. It will limit and atrophy our collective intellectual capacity as a society and a country that fights for a place of respect and dignity in the world ”.
– Arundhati Roy
Thursday, SG Suryah, a spokesman for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu, said the withdrawal was a “great victory” for the RSS-affiliated student body.
Meanwhile, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Kanimozhi criticized the university’s move. “The governance and politics that decide what art and what literature students should study will destroy the diversity of a society,” he tweeted.
ஆட்சியதிகாரமும், அரசியலும் எது கலை, எது இலக்கியம் எதை மாணவர்கள் படிக்க வேண்டும் என்று முடிவு செய்வது ஒரு சமுதாயத்தின் பன்முகத்தன்மையை அழித்து விடும். pic.twitter.com/vjKKybSSAR
– Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) November 12, 2020
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