After the alleged removal of a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi titled ‘Modi@20 Dreams Meet Delivery’ from Calicut University central library display box, the university authorities on Saturday placed the book back at the display box. The removal of the book from the display box had triggered a huge controversy.

The book was reportedly removed from the display box of the university library after a group of students came out against it. However, as the removal of the book led to protests from various quarters, the university authorities decided to display the book again on the display box.

The controversy has erupted at a time when a peer team of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) is on a visit at the university for three days from Thursday for the fourth cycle of its grading of the institution.

The BJP alleged that the action of the university in removing the book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi from its library display box showed the institution’s “pro-Pakistan approach”.

Condemning the alleged removal of the book, BJP’s state president K Surendran said that the removal of the book showed that the university authorities had succumbed to the “pressure from anti-national forces”.

“It is clear from this incident that this is an act of putting forward a new ‘pro-Pakistan’ approach by succumbing to the pressure of anti-national forces,” Surendran said

“The university authorities have insulted the Indian Constitution and the country’s democratic tradition. The university authorities should keep in mind the fact that Narendra Modi has occupied the position of Prime Minister not by removing the tiles in the roof, but by getting elected by the people of this country overwhelmingly. He won a landslide victory and retained the position in the 2019 elections. The BJP will not allow the Talibanistic stance of the   university authorities that the book on the prime minister will not be allowed to read in its library,” K Surendran added

Surendran further pointed out that this has happened in Kerala where the ruling CPI-M led LDF speaks so much about the “right to freedom of expression”.

The university has clarified that the normal practice in the case of new arrivals is observed in the case of the book on PM Modi. “All new arrivals in the library are put on display box only for 15 days. After this time regulation, books would be transferred to stack room and issued to readers. In the case of the book, ‘Modi@20, the library has observed the same criterion,” says a statement from the University librarian

‘Modi@20: Dreams Meet Delivery’ was launched in May this year and is a collection of 21 chapters written by 22 dignitaries, including Union Home Minister , National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Sudha Murty, among others.