Mumbai University drops Rohinton Mistry novel after extremists complain
Author decries 'threats and intimidation' by Shiv Sena
Such a Long Journey insults leader Bal Thackeray – grandson

An Excerpt taken from Gurdian UK
The banned book is set in India in the 1970s. Published in 1991 and shortlisted for the Booker prize, it describes the life and loves of a bank clerk from Mumbai's Parsee community against a background of political unrest. The Shiv Sena are described in broadly negative terms.

Mohan Rawale, a Shiv Sena official, said the book was full of "very bad, very insulting words", especially about Bal Thackeray, 83, the group's founder and leader.

"It is our culture that anything with insulting language should be deleted. Writers can't just write anything. They can't write wrong things," said Rawale, who admitted not having read the book.

The campaign to ban Such a Long Journey was launched by Aditya Thackeray, the leader's grandson and son of the current executive president of Shiv Sena, who is head of the group's youth wing. Analysts say the group is using the issue to launch Aditya Thackeray's political career.

"We have no issues with the book being available in the market but it is being forced upon us," Aditya Thackeray, who is studying history, told local reporters. "That is not acceptable."

In fact, the novel was an optional text on a second year literature reading list, sources at the university said.

PEN, Writers Union back Mistry's book battle
An Excerpt taken from CBC News
PEN Canada and the Writers Union of Canada are calling on the University of Mumbai to reverse its ban on Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry's novel Such a Long Journey.


Mistry's novel follows the story of a family struggling to get by in 1970s India, and there are descriptions of Shiv Sena's violent tactics.

PEN Canada said it was "deeply concerned" at reports of book-burning and censorship at the University of Mumbai.

Copies of Such a Long Journey were burned on campus by students who said they were offended by passages in the book. In addition to passages about Shiv Sena, they said they did not like profanity and a reference to a brothel in the book.

"It is a further cause for concern that the ban was apparently rushed through to appease members of the Shiv Sena Party, following a book-burning protest organized by Aditya Thackeray, the new leader of Yuva Sena, the party's youth wing," PEN Canada said in a statement released Thursday.

PEN pointed to the book's distinguished history as winner of numerous prizes, including 1991 Governor General's Literary Award and the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book.