Scrapping Such a Long Journey

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20101102/edit.htm#7

Recently, Mumbai University scrapped a book written by a Canada-based Indian Rohinton Mistry from its undergraduate curriculum. Mistry had been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize not so long ago. The book was scrapped in response to protests by a student group called Yuva Sena. They alleged that the book attacked certain popular individuals and slandered certain political groups, apart from attacking the ethos of Mumbaikars in general and was unfit to be included in the university’s curriculum for English undergraduates.

Yuva Sena is headed by Aditya Thackeray, who happens to be the son of Uddhav Thackeray, who in turn is the progeny of Bal Thackeray. The book in question is about a certain Parsi called Gustad Noble set in the year 1971 in the city of Bombay. The individual in question is Mr Bal Thackeray and the political group is Shiv Sena. The book talks about this man’s life unravels.

When tracing out a character, I would believe that good authors tend to cobble up a character which would be as close to their imagined reality as possible. Mistry’s imagined reality happens to be the same as our everyday one. It’s just that Mistry made the mistak of writing about his character’s political views in a place where political overlords tend to smash people to bits before negotiating with them.

The Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor was competing with Dominos’ 30-minutes-or-free offer in promptness of service when he delivered the scrapping order within a day of the protest. The Sena defends the action by talking about how moral censorship is necessary to pass on the right baton to the next generation. Sanjay Raut, Executive Editor, Saamna,the political mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena, writes in his column in a newspaper that the nature of censorship is such that the censor decides what is acceptable or not based on his/her own morality.

This becomes a problem when the demographic group you seek to protect from such influences is neither in need of protection nor “thinks” it needs protection when you live in a liberal democracy where such a view matters. Our generation today has been fed on a generous dose of liberalism. Liberty is one of our most cherished ideals and we fiercely protect our right to freedom of speech.

The Sena’s action is in direct conflict with this principle, as is evidenced by the huge hue and cry raised by students of the college on various social fora. The English undergraduates whom the Sena wishes to protect from such influences have a worldview far wider than most people would give them credit for, given that they’ve grown up reading a lot. They can discern, far more wisely than most of us, the difference between good fiction and plain bigotry.

In fact, this book was a part of one of those critical appreciation courses where they dissect an author’s work precisely to isolate and understand his intentions and leanings. The BJP, had initiated a similar exercise in the past. My CBSE Class X batch of 2004 had had such a politically motivated change of textbooks in the middle of its 9th-10th cycle because of which the entire Class of 2004 across the country now knows nothing of the World Wars, the rise and fall of Communism, the Russian Revolution, the atom bombs, the Nazis and countless other huge moments of the last 100 years which define our contemporary reality. Instead, the four chapters in our history text read more like insipid tourist brochures for various Indian monuments. This is just one example of how the myopic vision of a political party can render it incapable to prescribe textbooks for students in a balanced manner.

The constituents of this civil society are indifferent people who vent their fury on blogs and Facebook, talk about high principles and reason and feel contented. Clearly, we are no threat to the lumpen elements who want publicity and have the need to display their power. They had their way. We blogged on our blogs and talked at parties to impress upon our peers that we are well read. We chose to put up Sena-bashing status messages for a day and that was that. A book has been scrapped, but hey, no lives lost. Those who want to get offended, will. And as long as there are people who have the means to twist the system into submission, reason will always be a casualty.