Tamil Nadu’s  Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, located in Tirunelveli, has dropped Arundhati Roy’s book ‘Walking With The Comrades’ from its syllabus after
a complaint was raised by the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
(ABVP) over its “anti-national” content.

The book was published a decade back and details Roy’s visit to the naxal-affected
areas and her meetings with some of the Maoists active in Dantewada, Jagdalpur,
Gadchiroli, Jamui, and many other places located in West Bengal, Odisha,
Telangana, Chhatisgarh, Bihar, and Maharashtra.

The decision to withdraw the book from the syllabus was taken on
Wednesday, Scroll reported.

“A committee comprising academic deans and board of studies members had
considered the complaint and decided to withdraw the book as it may be
inappropriate to teach a controversial book for students,” Vice Chancellor K Pitchumani told The Indian Express, according to the report published in Scroll.

“We have replaced it with M Krishnan’s My Native Land: Essays on Nature,” it said.

Roy in a statement said she was not surprised that the book was
withdrawn because she had no clue the book was being taught there in first
place. She said it was her duty to write the book and not fight for its place
in the syllabus.

““When I heard of the Manomaniam Sundaranar University’s decision to
remove my book ‘Walking With the Comrades’ from its curriculum following
threats and pressure from the ABVP— oddly enough I was more happy than sad
because I had no idea that it was in the curriculum in the first place. I am
glad it has been taught for several years. I am not in the least bit shocked or
surprised that it has been removed from the syllabus now,” she said in the
statement.

“It was my duty as a writer to write it. It is not my duty to fight for
its place on a university curriculum. That is for others to do or not do.
Either way it has been widely read and as we know bans and purges do not
prevent writers from being read. This narrow, shallow, insecure attitude
towards literature displayed by our current regime is not just detrimental to
its critics. It is detrimental to millions of its own supporters. It will limit
and stunt our collective intellectual capacity as a society and a country that
is striving for a place of respect and dignity in the world.” 

According to the report, the ABVP in its complaint had advocated the
dropping of the book alleging its “openly supporting the killing fields and
riots by the anti-national Maoists”.

The book had been part of the varsity syllabus since 2017.