The unceremonious removal of Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey from the English syllabus of Mumbai University, has left the faculty members of the varsity incensed and they have now decided to protest against the vice-chancellor's move.
Faculty members of the University of Mumbai have decided to lodge their protest against the vice-chancellor's decision to drop the Booker-nominated novel Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry from the English syllabus.
Even as University of Mumbai Academic Staff Association (Umasa) members plan to have decided to dash off a letter and send it to governor K Sankaranarayanan, who is also the chancellor of the university, the executive committee of the association, which met on Tuesday, unianimously agreed that the manner in which the book was dropped was not correct.
The chancellor of universities and governor of Maharashtra, K Sankaranarayanan. The executive committee of the association which met on Tuesday unanimously agreed that the manner in which the book was withdrawn was not correct.
"Most faculty members were against the way in which the book was pulled out of the second year BA syllabus. We are going to write to the chancellor telling him that this is not the way we should decide this is not the manner in which we decide what ought to be taught and what not be taught in our classrooms,'' said a faculty member.
In the last week of August, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's grandson, Aditya, with the members of his student wing, Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, met the university V-C, Rajan Welukar, and demanded that the book should be purged dropped as "it contained matter that was against the Sena and dabbawalas".
Within 24 hours, an emergency meeting was convened with an ad hoc board of studies of English, and the Booker prize-nominated book was removed. Those in the academic circles were left aghast have been aghast by the manner in which the university's with how the V-C used the emergency powers bestowed on him in him to bow to the demand of a students' body. The university faculty have decided to intervene.
The purging of the book witnessed protest from all quarters-from St Xavier's College, where Mistry studied, to various citizens' groups across the city voicing their displeasure. last week saw widespread anger spread across the city.
Such A Long Journey, set in the backdrop of the events of 1971, chronicles the story of Gustad Noble, a Byculla-born Parsi bank clerk, living in a turbulently changing world. Despite a staunch inherited code of belief, Noble is often faced with what is right and what not ought to be. It was because of the narrative tapestry of the book that the panel recommended it as a part of the syllabus, said faculty member.
"While everyone's sentiments should be taken into account, such haste was not required before the decision was taken. A new board of studies is going to meet soon and it would have been fine had they recommended another book in its place. But bowing to a diktat of a political students' outfit is not correct," said another Umasa member.