Catholic students seek support to lift ban on book

Catholic students groups are gathering their community’s support for a petition against the ban on a novel from Mumbai University’s curriculum because it makes references to the Shiv Sena.

The petition, support for which is being sought through parish groups, e-mails and social networking sites, will be sent to the governor.

The novel, Such a Long Journey, by Rohinton Mistry, a Canada-based author of Indian origin, is part of the English literature syllabus for the Second Year Bachelor’s Arts (SYBA) course. The university took the book off the syllabus after protests by the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, the student wing of the Sena.

The Mumbai unit of the All India Catholic University Federation (AICUF),  has collected over 1,000 signatures against the ban. AICUF’s appeal says: “If you feel that voices of dissent need to emerge against the shrinking democratic spaces within the University and the city of Mumbai in general, then please lend your support by endorsing the statement and signing the letter.”

Delfi Chinnappan, the Maharashtra president of AICUF and an SYBA student at St. Xavier’s College said they want the book to be reintroduced in the syllabus and a debate whether the book deserved to be banned.

Students at St Xavier’s are having their semester exams. Despite this, they have been canvassing support for the petition. Community groups are helping the students contact supporters. Robin Veigas, president of the Kalina unit of the Bombay Catholic Sabha, a group representing lay Catholics, said, “Each parish is supposed to ask its members to support the petition.”

The petitioners said that by banning a book after protests from a political group, the vice-chancellor of Mumbai University has flouted administrative procedures and bypassed academic bodies. They have demanded that details of the university proceedings that led to the ban should be made public.

The Sena justifies the ban on the book. Aditya Thackeray, grandson of Sena chief Bal Thackeray who had led protests against Mistry’s book told DNA, “The language used in the book is inappropriate for students.”