The Mirror mirrors it right

The Mumbai Mirror is on the warpath faulting Bal Thackeray’s grandson Aditya for demanding that a book be removed from the Mumbai University’s curriculum because it hurt the sentiments of the Shiv Sena cadre, and demanding that the Vice Chancellor explain why he succumbed to the young Thackeray’s pressure and obliged within 24 hours. Aditya is shortly scheduled to be appointed head of a newly formed youth wing of the Sena.

The newspaper first broke the story on October 2, with a headline Cub’s first strike: univ bans iconic Rohinton book. It is a welcome contribution not only to good reporting but a boost for freedom of expression. It came from one of its stable mates, the Mumbai Mirror which exposed how the University of Mumbai succumbed to pressures from Aditya, the grandson of Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief. Aditya is the son of Uddhav, the executive president of the party. For two weeks, the Mirror has been running stories relating to this decision of the university.

Aditya, a student of final year in St Xavier’s College gathered a mob of youngsters from the Sena’s Vidyarthi Sena and demanded of Vice Chancellor Rajan Welukar that Rohinton Mistry’s Such a Long Journey be droppedfrom the university’s curriculum as it made unpalatable references to the Sena. Using his emergency powers, rarely invoked by other VCs, Welukar banned the book. The young Thackeray is reported to have confessed that he had not even read the 337-page novel. He had acted on a complaint from his friends.

The issue is gathering momentum in academic circles. Father Frazer Mascrenahas, principal of the college blasted the decision saying that simply because something "critiques us", a piece of literature ought not to be banned. Aroon Tikekar, a historian, writer and journalist blasted the University for dropping the book right in the middle of the academic year.

Barring the Mumbai Mirror and the Hindustan Times (which reported on October 11 quoting the Mirror) no other city news paper or channel touched this issue till the chief minister’s press conference when he said that adequate thought should be given before introduction of any book into the syllabus. The Times of India, Hindustan Times and the DNA then took up the issue. Usually, anything that the Sena says or does is highlighted by the print and television journalists but this time, the party and its deeds have gone unnoticed.

The Mirror’s Page 1 story on October 13 headlined 3 questions for vice-chancellor asked the VC, "Sir, Did you read the book before purging it from the syllabus?" The second was, "Does a posse of less than hundred political party workers protesting against a book, uneventufully taught to hundreds of students for the last four years, construe grave danger to the university?" The third question was, "So, given the politics and the controversy surrounding his appointment, is Dr Welukar playing safe by banning an allegedly contentious book? Or by pandering to the Sena, securing his future?" It may recalled that Welukar was appointed the VC after a long and excruciating head-hunt by a committee which was said to have been fire-walled against any political influence.

The other newspapers woke up to the story only when reporting the Chief Minister's weekly press conference and editions of even Marathi newspapers on October 14, 2010 carried items which said he would have a word with the VC before deciding and that there ought to be careful evaluation of books prior to their introduction. Even the Times of India gave a quarter of a page reporting that the teachers' union and those who taught English had moved the VC; so did the Hindustan Times which also claimed it had broken the story on September 17 itself. The Daily News and Analysis also took note of the issue.

 

Kudos to the Mirror for bravely staying with the issue.