On the occasion of Jawaharlal Nehru's birth anniversary on November 14, the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration allegedly barred his books for a day-long exhibition. Instead a note was sent to the publishers to display works on Deen Dayal Upadhyay and BR Ambedkar.
According to an email sent by the university's B R Ambedkar Central Library sent to the publishers on November 10, the library allowed only the books published in the year 2016-17, making just two exceptions, reported the Telegraph.
"Please follow the guidelines as given below: 1. Only books published in the year 2016-17 should be displayed; 2. All books on and about Dr B.R. Ambedkar and Pandit Deen Dayal may also be displayed (published any time)...." JNU had some advice for participating publishers -- display literature relating to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and B R Ambedkar," said the mail.
Nehru was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books, such as The Discovery of India, Glimpses of World History, and his autobiography, Toward Freedom. He had written 30 letters to his daughter Indira Gandhi, when she was 10 years old and was in a boarding school in Mussoorie, teaching about natural history and the story of civilisations. The collection of these letters was later published as a book Letters from a Father to His Daughter.
"All books on and about B R Ambedkar and Pandit Deen Dayal, published anytime, may also be displayed," said the letter signed by the library's professional assistant Rishabh Jain to PTI.
Nehru, however, could not be kept out of his own birthday ceelbrations. Many of the publishers were reported to have ignored the library's diktat and featured books by and on Nehru.
Librarian Ramesh C Gaur, however, said the exhibition had nothing to do with Nehru's anniversary, and denied that any guidelines were given to the publishers. Sixty vendors and publishers took part in it, he said.
One of the publishers who participated in the exhibition told PTI that he had received an official e-mail from JNU which advised them to display books on the Hindutva icon and the Dalit social reformer.
Another official from the library, who sought anonymity, told the news agency that over 500 books on Ambedkar and Upadhyaya were recommended for procurement by the library.
