MADURAI: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, whose denunciation allegedly provoked Manomaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli to remove a book by Arundhati roy of his MA (English Literature) course, he has decided to seek a syllabus review at every university in the state to ensure that “students are not taught the wrong content.”
Last week, the university received a written complaint from APVB (Dakshin Tamil Nadu) Deputy Secretary C Vignesh, saying ‘Walking with the comrades‘, based on Roy’s visit to the Maoist-dominated regions in the country, was objectionable and glorified the movement. It had been included in the university curriculum in 2017 and is an elective.
Vice Chancellor K Pitchumani said a committee was established that included the chairman of the board of studies for the department in question and deans of several other departments. “We also received many phone calls on the subject and, after careful consideration, we decided to replace the book, on Wednesday, with My Native Land: Essays on Nature by naturalist M. Krishnan,” he said. Pitchumani said Roy’s book had been included before his tenure at the university began last year.
ABVP The organization’s state secretary, L Muthuramalingam, welcoming the removal of the book, said that, however, the organization was not happy that it had been taught to thousands of students over the past three years. “He has made us set up a committee to review the syllabus of universities in Tamil Nadu to ensure that such content is not misappropriated to the student community,” he said. Muthuramalingam said that the ABVP, seven years ago, managed to get the same university to remove ‘Nonbu’ from its syllabus due to objectionable content about Sri Andal Natchiar.
Many political and academic parties have condemned the removal of the book due to pressure from the ABVP. VCK Secretary General D Ravikumar said that people who oppose the content of books in a university program are not new. “When a syllabus is objectionable to some, it must be debated and a decision made. Giving in to pressure from an organization like ABVP is dangerous and it is time for the Tamil Nadu government to take the issue seriously, ” he said. Tamil Nadu has exceeded the national goal for higher education set for 2050, he said. “We are well advanced in higher education and these problems could be a spoiler for the academic development of the state.” Parties like the CPM and DMK also strongly condemned the action.
R. Murali, coordinator of the movement for the protection of higher education, said that books like Roy’s were important to the educational system as they informed students about the socio-political situation of a nation. “It is a cowardly act of the rector to make an arbitrary decision to take out one book and replace it with another,” he said.
.
