The most powerful family in Mumbai, India, has finally been opposed by none other than their private college‘s dean, Dr Frazer Mascarenhas S J.  The young and active leader of the Shiv Sena, Aditya Thackeray was popularly criticized by the dean of St. Xavier College for his immaturity at handling a book written against politics by an alumni, Rohinton Mistry.

The book ‘such a Long Journey‘, was shortlisted for the prestigious, Booker Prize, and Mistry is one of the proudest alumni’s of the University. However, members of the Shiv Sena, the political party under the Thackerays, are burning copies of the book to show their disagreement with it. One of students also asked another college in Mumbai to take the book off their syllabus.

The Dean‘s opinion was, “It is inconceivable that in the 21st century, a political party will not show the maturity to accept criticism and answer it by the evidence of its own actions. Is it not unreasonable, that literature is banned, merely because it dares to critique us? St. Xavier’s College regrets that this book, written by an alumnus, and widely acclaimed in the literary world, has been treated in this manner.”