Mistry dismayed at varsity yielding to Sena on his book

MUMBAI - Rohinton Mistry, author of the 1990 Booker Prize-nominated “Such A Long Journey”, Monday said he was not surprised by Shiv Sena’s agitation for the book’s removal from the Mumbai University syllabus, but “dismayed” by the university’s “expeditious decision” to yield to the demand.

Blaming vice chancellor Rajan Welukar for not upholding the freedom of expression, the author suggested that he as well as Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s grandson Aditya read two works - Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” and Rabindranath Tagore’s “Gitanjali”. Aditya led the agitation that resulted in the university withdrawing “Such A Long Journey” from the graduation syllabus earlier this month.

In a mail sent to his brother which was read out by documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan during a reading of the book at the Press Club here Monday, Mistry wrote: “A political party demanded an immediate change in syllabus, and Mumbai University provided deluxe service via express delivery, making the book disappear the very next day.”

“In this sorry spectacle of book-burning and book-banning, the Shiv Sena has followed its depressingly familiar, tediously predictable script of threats and intimidation that Mumbai has endured since the organisation’s founding in 1966. But it is the expeditious decision by Mumbai University which causes profound dismay.”

Taking a jibe at vice-chancellor Welukar, Mistry said: “For days, the vice-chancellor said nothing, offered no explanation. He is, we are told, a Ph.D. in statistics - a useful subject for dealing with permutations, combinations, probabilities but silent on the matter of moral responsibility.”

Laying the onus on Welukar, Mistry said: “The university, in the person of the vice-chancellor, occupies an exalted position in civilised society, the champion of academic independence and freedom of expression. Instead, Mumbai University has come perilously close to institutionalizing the ugly notion of self-censorship”.

For Aditya, Mistry said: “As for the grandson of the Shiv Sena leader, the young man who takes credit for the whole pathetic business, who admits to not having read the book, just the few lines that offend him and his bibliophobic brethren, he has now been inducted into the family enterprise of parochial politics, anointed leader of its newly minted ‘youth wing’. What can - what should - one feel about him?”

“Pity, disappointment, compassion? Twenty years old, in the final year of a B.A. in history, at my own Alma Mater, the beneficiary of a good education, he is about to embark down the Sena’s well-trodden path, to appeal, like those before him, to all that is worst in human nature. Does he have to?”

“No. He is clearly equipped to choose for himself. He could lead, instead of following, the old regime. He could say something radical - that burning and banning books will not feed one hungry soul, will not house one homeless person nor will it provide gainful employment to anyone (unless one counts those hired to light bonfires), not in Mumbai, not in Maharashtra, not anywhere, not ever,” Mistry said.

“He can think independently, and he can choose. And since he is drawn to books, he might want to read, carefully this time, from cover to cover, a couple that would help him make his choice. Come to think of it, the Vice-Chancellor, too, may find them beneficial. First, (Joseph) Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, in order to consider the options: step back from the abyss, or go over the edge.”

“Next, the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali. And I would urge particular attention to this verse: Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

Mistry thanked all those who had stood up for the book.

“This sordid story, however, does have a bright spot. Civil society has responded, in Mumbai and elsewhere, with outrage, questions, petitions; it is inspiring to see. The stand taken by teachers, citizens’ groups, bloggers, journalists is exemplary. Who knows, it may even educate the main actors about the workings of a real democracy.”