Let us keep out the details of the controversy. What is painful is that the institute crawled when it may have simply be expected to bend. This episode shows the importance our academic institutions give to the issue of freedom of expression and autonomy of academic establishments.

In the case of the MS University, it is a well-known fact that the university, which once used to be a matter of pride for Gujarat, has recently turned into a playground of narrow-minded politics propped up by self-appointed protectors of Hindutva. So, while it is sad that the vice chancellor and the establishment have thrown academic freedom to the wind; it is something one was not ignorant about. In contrast, the BORI case poses an even more serious challenge.

Both when the controversy emerged and today, the state government is run by parties that have avowedly come together to counter the communal menace. The Congress-NCP government did not protect academic freedom; nor did any of the other secular parties in progressive Maharashtra come forward to intervene on behalf of freedom of expression. That was when the Lok Sabha elections were round the corner and at least the NCP tried to derive mileage from the controversy; some sections even tried to revive the old brahmin-non-brahmin dispute. The issue of academic freedom was quickly overshadowed by pseudo-progressivism based on one’s caste origin.

Two, when the ban had to be lifted following court orders, the book was publicly burnt in a number of places to create an atmosphere of terror. Again, the government chose to ignore it and the secular parties together constituted Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkeys.

... contd.