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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  BJP complains to EC over St Xavier’s principal’s Modi e-mail
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BJP complains to EC over St Xavier’s principal’s Modi e-mail

Father Frazer Mascarenhas's election advisory to his students is critical of Narendra Modi's 'Gujarat Model'

St. Xavier’s College principal Father Frazer Mascarenhas has defended his action, saying his note was not against any specific individual or party. Photo: Hindustan TimesPremium
St. Xavier’s College principal Father Frazer Mascarenhas has defended his action, saying his note was not against any specific individual or party. Photo: Hindustan Times

Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar has lodged a complaint against Father Frazer Mascarenhas, the principal of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, for allegedly violating the Election Commission of India’s (EC) model code of conduct. He has courted a controversy after sending an advisory to his students which is critical of Narendra Modi’s “Gujarat Model" of development.

In its Wednesday edition, Mumbai Mirror newspaper reported that Mascarenhas had sent an e-mail to the students of his college saying, “All human development indicators and cultural polarization of population show that Gujarat has had a terrible experience in last 10 years."

In his letter to chief election commissioner V.S. Sampath concerning the matter on Wednesday, Shelar claimed St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai is a government-aided institute and that the principal of such an institute cannot participate in political activity. He said the e-mail violated the model code of conduct.

Talking to Press Trust of India on Wednesday, Mascarenhas defended his action, saying his note was not against any specific individual or party.

“I have not mentioned any particular individual or organization in my communication. It was intended only to serve as a broad understanding before students exercised their right to vote," he said. “There’s nothing more to the letter," Mascarenhas said.

The principal’s e-mail to his students which is also posted on the college website reads, “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. It acknowledges Congress’s Food Security and Rojgar Yojana schemes. Efforts like the Rojgar Yojana and the Food Security Act have been called “election sops", it said adding “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 note advises students not to support leaders who are a threat to secular fabric of India. “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. Meanwhile, when asked why he had sent out such a mail during elections, he told a newspaper, “I have given some considerations for evaluating the (Gujarat) model and also talked about other models, like the Congress government....I am trying to be as impartial as possible; it is my responsibility to encourage my students to vote.

“The ‘Gujarat Model’ is being discussed in every media as a successful model and I am throwing light on what I think, which also needs to be looked at," he said.

Mascarenhas, however, got backing of leaders of Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the National Conference (NC) who said he is free to express his views. “He(Father) has every right under the Constitution to express his views," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.

“If religious leaders, yoga teachers, media personalities and business tycoons can express an opinion why not college principals," asked Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and NC leader Omar Abdullah.

PTI contributed to this story.

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Published: 23 Apr 2014, 06:26 PM IST
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