Chavan also said that his government would examine the procedure followed by Mumbai University while banning book Such A Long Journey (1991) by Rohinton Mistry, the India-born Canadian writer.
Expressing his concern about the controversy over literary works and arbitrary ban on them, chief minister Ashok Chavan said that he was against banning any book.
Chavan also said that his government would examine the procedure followed by Mumbai University while banning book Such A Long Journey (1991) by Rohinton Mistry, the India-born Canadian writer.
Declining to comment on the ban imposed on the book by the university, the chief minister said that his general view was that the bans slapped on books are against the healthy growth of literary culture in the state.
“History does not change, in whatever medium it is expressed in. The authors writing about history take a lot of pain and put in years of research and investigation. Rampant bans and objections on such literary pieces disturb the easy flow of the literary culture. I come across the complaints from prominent personalities in the literary world about the rising controversies and demands of ban,” he said.
Chavan assured that he would examine whether due procedure was followed by Mumbai University while banning Mistry’s book. “We will invite leaders from all political parties to discuss the issue. A consensus is needed to be built among the political parties to decide a stand on such types of books that are parts of literature,” he said.
Mumbai University banned the book which was part of its SYBA syllabus after Aditya Thackeray, grandson of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, complained about it. Aditya had raised his objection about the alleged remarks against his grandfather, Marathi manoos and dabbawallahs of Mumbai in the book. Aditya has claimed that some of the passages in the book are anti-Shiv Sena and the language is abusive.
Educationists and personalities from the literary world have raised objection about the fashion in which the university has dropped the book from the syllabus. Questions are being raised that how can the book be dropped mid-term and that too after receiving a complaint from a leader of a political party.
While firmly refuting to react on the ban on Such A Long Journey, Chavan said that he needed to understand stand of the university. “I need to understand the stand taken by vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Velukar before commenting upon the ban,” he said.
Higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope said, “The state government has no say in the decision taken by the vice-chancellor of the university. We will only examine whether the due procedure was followed by the university while imposing a ban on the book.”
Other books by Rohinton Mistry are Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987), A Fine Balance (1995), Family Matters (2002) and The Scream (2008).
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