The principal of St Xavier's college, Dr Frazer Mascarenhas in Mumbai has written a strongly-worded email to students of the college, where he has criticised the Gujarat Model of Development while praising UPA's Rojgar Yojana and Food Security bill. The email has also been up on the college's website, which can be seen
here.
The principal of St Xavier's college, Dr Frazer Mascarenhas in Mumbai has written a strongly-worded email to students of the college, where he has criticised the Gujarat Model of Development while praising UPA's Rojgar Yojana and Food Security bill. The email has also been up on the college's website, which can be seen here.
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The email says, "All the Human Development Index indicators and the cultural polarisation of the population show that Gujarat has had a terrible experience in the last 10 years. Take the example of education: schools for the ordinary populace show abject neglect with a very high dropout rate in the last 10 years. Higher Education has not been allowed to move forward... Gujarat has also been the worst performer in settling claims and distributing title deeds to tribal people and other forest dwellers, as shown by the latest data put out by the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry. Till 2013, the State, with 15% tribal population, settled only 32 per cent of the claims, the lowest rate in the country." The email then goes on to contrast this with the Rojgar Yojana and the Food Security Act, and says that while these schemes have been dismissed as election sops, they are necessary to the wellbeing of citizens. The email also goes on to mention the Right to Information act. It reads, "some of our best social scientists like Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze have supported these as necessary in the emergency economic situation the country and the world is facing. The country is grateful that committed activists like Aruna Roy and Shailesh Gandhi have worked with the Government to initiate and sustain the Right to Information Act which makes accountability possible."
The email ends by pointing out that the elections pose a choice for the students, and asks them to choose well: "The prospect of an alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power constitutes a real threat to the future of our secular democracy. Support people who pledge to work to take Human Development Indicators higher and who commit themselves to a pluralistic culture in diverse India. " While the email doesn't name either the Congress party or Narendra Modi, it is clearly advocating a vote for the former and against the BJP.
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Defending himself, Mascharenas told Mumbai Mirror, "I have laid out certain criteria such as human development indicators, corruption, inclusive development and the environment for students to think about and make a choice. As an educational administrator, I only urge students to vote and make an informed choice." But the email has already drawn a sharp response from the BJP's Mumbai chief Ashish Shelar who is calling it a violation of the election code.
