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dam-l LS: Youth Congress workers burn Arundhati's book
Times of India, Friday 23 July 1999
Youth Congress workers burn Arundhati's book
By A Staff Reporter
AHMEDABAD: Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy's book, The Greatest Common
Good was burnt by Youth Congress leaders of Gujarat, here on Thursday, for
its anti-Narmada dam contents. The party has also warned all book stores in
Gujarat to withdraw her books from the shelves or face angry demonstrations
by Youth Congressmen.
Party workers led by the state Youth Congress president Himmatsinh Patel
burnt copies of the book which is critical of the Sardar Sarovar Project on
environmental, social and economic counts. Chanting "Arundhati Roy Hai Hai'
the Youth Congressmen termed the writer as "anti- and said her criticism
was unwarranted because Gujarat had offered the best possible deal to the
project-affected persons.
Mr Patel said "if within the next 24 hours all her irresponsible,
anti-development and anti-Gujarat books are not withdrawn from the shelves,
the book stores will have to face angry Youth Congressmen".
The protest also saw some Congress leaders, including the Gujarat Pradesh
Congress Committee secretary Vijay Kella, joining in.
The protest comes in the wake of attempts by both the Congress and the BJP
to politicise the Narmada issue on the eve of the elections as the issue
evokes considerable emotions in Gujarat. Last week, during the visit of
All-India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi to Ahmedabad, the
Narmada Development minister Jaynarayan Vyas wrote to the leader of
Opposition Amarsinh Choudhary requesting him to arrange a meeting with Ms
Gandhi to protest against "obstacles" being created in the path of the
project by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh. The Congress
later denied having received the letter from Mr Vyas and the meeting did
not take place.
Arundhati Roy has been in the news recently for her utterances against the
Sardar Sarovar Project as she has emerged as the new celebrity spearhead
for the anti-dam Narmada Bachao Andolan. But while she has been addressing
a string of meetings in various cities in the countdown to the "Rally in
the Valley," she has been declared persona non grata by organisations in
Gujarat.
Earlier this month , the Rotary Club of Ahmedabad Metro, which has extended
an invitation to Roy to speak on literature, backed out because of pressure
from members who were either opposed to her views totally or those who felt
the meeting would spark off protests bringing a bad name to the club. The
club decided to withdraw the air tickets which had already been sent to her.
Anti-dam activists say they are not surprised at the wave of protests
because Gujarat has had a history of intolerance on the Narmada issue. NBA
supporters like lawyer Girish Patel and writer Ashwini Bhatt have been
attacked in the past in Ahmedabad and even press conferences by Ms Medha
Patkar have been picketed in Gujarat.