The ABVP had complained about Arundhati Roy’s “Walking with the Comrades”.
Chennai:
After complaints from several people, including Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, against Arundhati Roy’s “ Walking with the Comrades ” as part of his English program for the post-graduate course, a public university in Tamil Nadu removed it from the program.
The ABVP and others alleged that the book glorified the Maoists and was anti-national in its content.
Opposition parties, DMK and CPI (M), opposed the decision to remove the book from the program which chronicles the author’s journey to the hiding places of the Maoists in Chhattisgarh and how they operated outside the jungles.
The book is part of the 2017-2018 Bundle Program for the Third Semester of Masters in English Literature from Affiliated Colleges of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli.
“Last week we received a written complaint from the ABVP. Subsequently, there were many other representations. We also received complaints from members of our union,” said the vice-chancellor of MSU, K Pitchumani, at PTI.
The complaints pointed to the book’s “controversial content” and called for it to be removed from the student curriculum, he said.
Therefore, a committee comprising senior academics was formed to examine the matter. The former chairman of the studies council, which wrote the program, and the outgoing leader were also on it, he said.
“The committee met on Wednesday and they decided to remove the book from the program due to its sensitive nature and in its place, a book by laureate and naturalist Padma,” My Native Land, Essays on Nature “by Mr. Krishnan has been included, “he said.
“It was implemented immediately,” he said.
Mr. Krishnan (1912-96) was a renowned naturalist, pioneer of Indian wildlife photography and writer and he was awarded the Padma Shri in 1969.
The decision would be approved at a meeting of the university’s Standing Committee on Academic Affairs, he said, adding that they were not for a “controversy” since only academics were important.
When asked if the “sensitive” nature of the book was not taken into account when included in the curriculum, the senior university official replied: “it probably went unnoticed.”
However, as soon as representations were received against the book, swift follow-up action was taken, he said.
In its complaint, the ABVP’s Southern Tamil Nadu Unit alleged that Ms. Roy’s book openly supported the Maoists and disseminated anti-national views.
“It is unfortunate that this book has been part of the program for three years. Thanks to this, the Naxal and Maoist ideology has been forced on the students,” the ABVP said demanding the book’s withdrawal.
Ms Roy’s interaction with the Maoists and her visits to the forests where she met them was first published in an English magazine in 2010 and subsequently published in book form.
DMK Youth Wing Secretary and MK Kanimozhi said in a tweet that power and politics to decide “what the arts are, what literature is and what students should read” would destroy character. pluralist society.
CPI member S Venkatesan (M) Lok Sabha said on his Twitter account that the deletion of the book was wrong.
The secretary general of the Association of Progressive Writers and Artists of Tamil Nadu, Aadhavan Dheetchanya, announced a virtual protest meeting Thursday evening to oppose the removal of the book from the program.
