On April 21st, 2014, Dr. Frazer Mascarenhas, S.J., Principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, posted a letter on the college’s official website. In it, Fr. Mascarenhas, who also teaches a course in Anthropology of Development, dissected the “Gujarat model of development”. He warned against the dangers posed by an “alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power”, and stressing the importance of a strong welfare state, ended by informing students to “choose well.”
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, claiming this was “an attempt to influence the minds of students”, and that it “violated the Model Code of Conduct.” A simultaneous campaign on electronic and social media alleged Fr. Mascarenhas had overstepped his authority. Unfortunately, all this is being said on behalf of students of St Xavier’s, without considering their views on the same.
While we as alumni and students might not agree unanimously with Fr. Mascarenhas’ statement, or the method he chose to disseminate it, we strongly oppose the biased media reports and falsehoods propagated on social media, which are twisting this case beyond merit. Thus, we, students and alumni of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, wish to strongly bring home a few points:
First,the insinuation that due to his position of authority, Fr. Mascarenhas’ email “coerces” students to oppose a particular political party is patently false. For one, he only attempts to present his perspective on what is at stake in this election and cautions his students to “choose wisely.” He does not advise them to choose “X party” or “Y party”. Given the multi-faceted propaganda most political parties engage in via newspaper advertisements, TV and radio spots, and opinion polls, it is far-fetched to believe that Fr. Mascarenhas’s email would have an overbearing effect on the ability of young voters to distinguish between political options, and choose whom to vote for, by themselves. That, in itself, infantilises students.
Secondly, the reports carried by prominent dailies like the Mumbai Mirror and DNA feed into an increasingly polarized rhetoric. As some students have stated on public forums, the Mumbai Mirror article quoted only those students who had an overly critical view of the institution and of Fr. Mascarenhas. The DNA article cites an unnamed professor stating that Milind Deora had donated Rs 10 crore to the college, something that Deora’s office categorically refuted when contacted. It also said “more than 1,000 students…were in for a rude shock” upon reading Fr Mascarenhas’s email. The journalist does not name any student sources, nor does she cite any empirical basis for her claims. How many statements of students did the journalist base her statement on? 500? 600? This sort of journalism has contributed to a vicious campaign against the institution, which has now been hijacked by overtly communal voices.
This brings us to our third point of concern, which is the distinctly communal overtones that this debate has taken, especially on social media, where it has transformed into a smear campaign. People have accused Fr. Mascarenhas of campaigning for a particular party and of serving an illicit Christian agenda.
As alumni and students of St. Xavier’s, we assert that these allegations are baseless, false and misleading. This college has also been markedly apolitical over the years, with no unions affiliated with political parties, nor any student elections or sloganeering—circumstances that have often caused violent clashes in other college campuses in the country. We have seen no evidence of any “Christian agenda” by the Jesuits either. Is it merely because this email comes from a priest that we must assume it to be “Christian propaganda”?
We refute the allegations above and condemn the propaganda that labels this issue as religious, sectarian and communal, for political gains. We ask: is a letter by the principal of a college exhorting students to “choose wisely” more biased than suspending one’s students for not attending a rally by a prominent national leader, as happened in Vadodara?
In a time where academics and activists are voicing their political opinions, we appreciate Fr Mascarenhas’ nuanced, argumentative email. We also feel it imperative to affirm our belief in the right of educational institutions to express themselves freely, particularly in a scenario where freedom of speech is increasingly threatened. The BJP has extended a tenuous link between a college funded by a non-political arm of the government and the model code of conduct. We urge the Election Commission to acknowledge this separation.
That said, one can, and indeed should, contest the arguments presented by Fr. Mascarenhas. His decision, far from “coercing” anyone, should foster debate and discussion,but definitely not censorship, and certainly not a media trial. What kind of elections are those where there are no public discussions about the relative merits of different agendas?
Finally, we urge other St Xavier’s alumni, as well as alumni of other institutions, our peers, friends, critics, and members of the public, to refrain from engaging in personal and vitriolic campaigns that malign St Xavier’s College and its students. We urge you to call out those misleading facts on social media and social networks that needlessly polarise opinions, and result in a general stagnation of public discourse.
We recognise that this issue can and should be dealt with in a reasoned, civil manner, through informed discussion and deliberation. We also understand that disagreement with viewpoints and support for the right to express them are not mutually exclusive. In fact, those are precisely the values we need to cultivate.
Thank you.
You can support the statement on ipetitions.com here:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/xavieritesrespond
Supported by:
1) Pratik Ali, Class of 2011
2) Proshant Chakraborty, Class of 2013
3) Mridula Chari, Class of 2011
4) Nachiket Joshi, Class of 2011
5) Deepa Kumar, Class of 2012
6) Usman Javed, Class of 2010
7) Sivakami Sivakumar, Class of 2010
8) Sasha John, Class of 2012
9) Anurag Tagat, Class of 2011
10) Meghnad Bose, Class of 2014
11) Jordan Martin, Class of 2013
12) Sumitra Badrinath, Class of 2014
13) Antara Telang, Class of 2013
14) Parineeta Banerjee, Class of 2014
15) Nicolette D’Souza, Class of 2012
16) Niharika Adukia, Class of 2012,
17) Yash Thakoor, Class of 2013
18) Rhea Dsilva, Class of 2008
19) Yohann Benson, Class of 2013
20) Anmol Soin, Class of 2011
21) Shambhavi Priyam, Class of 2014
22) Uttara Purandare, Class of 2013
23) Kunal Gaikwad, Class of 2014
24) Sneha Patil, Class of 2015
25) Jai Subramanian, Class of 2015
26) Khaliq Parkar, Class of 2006, former teacher, St Xavier’s College, 2011-12
27) Fr Joseph MT, Dept. of Sociology, Mumbai University, & former teacher, St Xavier’s College, 2010-13
28) Shilpa Phadke, TISS, Mumbai, & former teacher, St Xavier’s College, 1999-2000
29) Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
30) Hardik Panjwani, Class of 2005-2006, guest lecturer, St Xavier’s College, 2012-13
31) Benny Monteiro, Class of 2013
32) Nishita Bhattacharya, Class of 2014
33) Stefan Fernandes, Class of 2013
34) Aakansha Cheriyan, Class of 2013
35) Niddhi Mehta, Class of 2013
36) Nolina Minz, Class of 2013
37) Karunika Kardak, Class of 2013
38) Simone Salazar, Class of 2013
39) Natasha Patel, Class of 2013
40) Aamna Khan, Class of 2013
41) Joanna Dawson, Class of 2013
42) Jyayasi Kapadia, Class of 2013
43) Aakanshi Javeri, Class of 2013
44) Rachel Bali, Class of 2013
45) Sanjay Deshpande, Class of 2013
46) Riddhi Shah, Class of 2013
47) Vivien D’costa, Class of 2013
48) Shenoya Fernandes, Class of 2013
49) Arjun Deka, Class of 2013
50) Angeline Lewis, Class of 2013
51) Pallavi Chatterjee, Class of 2013
52) Lizann Fernandes, Class of 2013
53) Wendy Serrao, Class of 2013
54) Nikita Parikh, Class of 2013
55) Radhika Dhuru, Class of 2013
56) Aditi Kapur, Class of 2012
57) Shruti Patil, Class of 2012
58) Sonakshi Anand, Class of 2012
59) Lee Anne, Class of 2005
60) Lester Martis, Class of 2012
61) Ketaki Haté, Class of 2009
62) Shashank Kumar, Class of 2009
63) Laya Maheshwari, Class of 2014
64) Utsha Mitra, Class of 2014
65) Neha Sethi, Class of 2014
66) Daisy Alphonso, Class of 2014
67) Aishwarya Pramod, Class of 2014
68) Cynthia Lewis, Class of 2014
69) Solomon Jeyaraj, Class of 2011
70) Paroma Bhattacharya, Class of 2011
71) Sinead D’Silva, Class of 2012
72) Ruth Pinto, Class of 2011
73) Priyanka Luis, Class of 2012
74) Dwanye Gonzalves , Class of 2013
75) Pragati Kulkarni, Class of 2013
76) Trishita Khanderia, Class of 2011
77) Elton Dmello, Class of 2012
78) Soundarya Iyer, Class of 2006
79) Pranati Bhalerao, 2006
80) Akshita Mathur, Class of 2012
81) Matthew George, Class of 2011
82) Abhinay Bhasin, Class of 2014
83) Shraddha Srikant, Class of 2014
84) Antara Atrey, Class of 2014
85) Mevil Anthony Wilson, Class of 2013
86) Fatema Shaikhally, Class of 2010
87) Habiba Insaf, Class of 2010
88) Dina Rasquinha, Class of 2011
89) Jenes Correia, Class of 2014
90) Shachi Mohta, Class of 2012
91) Pranita Pandurangi, Class of 2015
92) Jochelle Mendonca, Class of 2008
93) Neha Lakshman, Class of 2013
94) Alexander Thomas, Class of 2013
95) Ankur Sharma, Class of 2013
96) Shakti Nambiar, Class of 2013
97) Disha Sabharwal, Class of 2013
98) Prachi Saxena, Class of 2013
99) Tejaswini Pendse, Class of 2013
100) Karenina Fernandes, Class of 2013
101) Kartik Verma, Class of 2013
102) Nishant Radhakrishnan, Class of 2013
103) Indivar Jonnalgadda, Class of 2012
104) Anzar Zaidi, Class of 2006
105) Ashvin Chandrasekhar, Class of 2015
106) Tasneem Sayani, Class of 2013
107) Drushtee Shinde, Class of 2013
108) Lizandra Pinto, Class of 2012
109) Alreena Pinto class of 2014
110) Shannon Fernandes, Class of 2014
111) Vanessa Vaz, Class of 2016
112) Divya Somakumar, Class of 2016
113) Niraj Chitnis, Class of 2015
114) Rashmita Sathyanarayan, Class of 2015
115) Aishwarya Dongre, Class of 2015
116) Zenia Daruvala, Class of 2015
117) Sukriti Mishra, Class of 2015
118) Vivan Coelho, Class of 2015
119) Arathy Puthillam, Class of 2015
120) Malvika Char, Class of 2016
121) Aaheli Gupta, Class of 2016
122) Saloni Bhatia, Class of 2015
123) Sharon, Class of 2015
124) Akshata Pai, Class of 2013
125) Divya Ruth Jose, Class of 2013
126) Shruti Bhagat, Class of 2012
127) Rashna Irani, Class of 2014
128) Lian Sonjem, Class of 2013
129) Aruna Chandrasekhar, Class of 2007
130) Farzeen Khan, Class of 2012
131) Sanjana Kumari, Class of 2014
132) Joanna Thomas, Class of 2015
133) Saloni Dikshit, Class of 2013
134) Gireeja Phadke, Class of 2010
135) Ruchba Rai, Class of 2015
136) Prthvir Solanki, Class of 2015
137) Pritha Sengupta, Class of 2014
138) Samoneh Khan, Class of 2014
139) Daneilla Santimano, Class of 2013
140) Erica Fernandes, Class of 2012
141) Mehr Malhotra, Class of 2014
142) Anisha George, Class of 2008
143) Noor
144) Kelly
145) Elita Sequeira
146) Sushman Choudhury
147) Vaishnavi
148) Suchi Talati,
149) Tahseen Alam
150) Suryanarayan Ganesh
151) Jim Na
152) Blythe Gonsalves
153) Shajan
154) Jincey Jacob
155) Anurag
156) Shishir Singh
157) Natasha Vakil
158) Poopathi S Manickam
159) Badri
160) Mohit Anand
161) Anuja Ghosalkar
162) Royd Tauro
163) Lalina Vaz
164) Preeti Rastogi
165) Malathi Jogi
166) Aisha
167) Alisha Coehlo
168) M D’Souza
169) Vivia Sequeira
170) Kimberly Noronha
171) Yvette Gomes
172) Shraddha Nair
173) Dhruv de Souza
174) Arathy Puthillam
175) Samantha Saldhana
176) Shahid Syed
177) Aradhana Chand
178) Sabeena Ahmed
179) Neha Lamech
180) Karishma Rodrigues
181) Aureen
182) Joyce D’Souza
183) Nihav
184) Wendy Chavez
185) Debayana Sen
186) Yohann Pereira
187) Inir Pinheiro
188) Anu Oommen
189) Shama Shah
190) Saurabh Mishra
191) Sagar Sawant
192) Parth
193) Kritika
194) Mish
195) Kamal Darbary
196) Deep
197) Ruchi Chaturvedi
198) Walter D’Souza
199) Pervin Verma
200) Shreya Ramesh
201) Suzanne Furtado
202) Jayashree Coutinho
203) Sudipto Biswas
204) Anubandh
205) Malveela Rebello
206) Michael Vaz
207) Joe Eruppakkat
208) Rashmita
209) Bhavya P
210) Deanne
211) Pravin Kumar
212) Ajay Chitnis
213) Benaifar
214) Nayanika Ghosh
215) Huston Lopes
216) Ashaita
217) Alison
218) Minhaz
219) Smitha Menon
220) Sharon
221) Amrutha
222) Murali Murti
223) Savio D’Souza
224) Antoine Lewis
225) Steffi Dourado
226) Charmene Dennis
227) Soma Mitra
228) Namrata Iyer
229) Alia Abreo
230) Trisha John
231) Cinatra Fernandes
232) Flavia Lewis
233) Pallavi Bandodkar
234) Avni Majithia-Sejpal
235) Ananthakrishnan Aiyer
236) Ritika D’Souza
237) Teresa Bhengra
238) Kinjal Dagli
239) T J Ferns
240) Lyndon Quadros
241) Saumya Ancheri
242) Vidon S Mazumdar
243) Galdin Raphael
244) Priyanka Navrekar
245) Priya Khote
246) Nisha Cardosco
247) Shikha Kashyap
248) Omar Iyer
249) Nandita
250) Nigel Britto
251) Shivali
252) Tanya
253) Nisha S
254) Sonali Peres
255) Aniket Rao
256) Abha Pratap Desai
257) Rhea D’Souza
258) Sneha Khanna
259) Brian Kress
260) Tania Tauro
261) Vineet
262) Lillian D
263) Roseita D’Souza
264) Dielle
265) Prashant Chari
266) Rivika Bisht
267) Balthazar Castelino
268) Rhea Gandhi
269) Apoorva
270) Kasturi
271) Chrissie D’Costa
272) Ahalya
273) Sherilynn Tellis
274) Cyrus
Post-script: We have, to the best of our ability, included the names of all the students, alumni, and well-wishers, who have supported this statement on iPetition, Facebook, Twitter, and via email. If, however, some names have been missed out, we apologise for that, since we had to publish the updated list. We recognise, appreciate and value your support. And we encourage you to continue to register your support via comments, and continue the debate therein.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 
Good for you, students! Father Mascarenhas needed that defence in these vitriolic times, when most of the corporate media is waiting to make mincemeat out of anyone who dares to speak differently. It is really sad to learn about the misrepresentation by the journalist from the DNA newspaper. Isn’t it time for St. Xavier’s to take action against this smear campaign?
LikeLike
How Ironic:
The post say: BJP has lodged a complaint saying “an attempt to influence the minds of students”
Then the post further goes on to say “Unfortunately, all this is being said on behalf of students of St Xavier’s,” How are both possible? It’s a general complaint not on our behalf.
How is this on behalf of the students?
And you are writing on behalf of the students, where most ex-students are signing like AMERICAN students : “class of 2008!” and who are ex-students writing on behalf of the students in the collage.
I am a student of the college and no one in the college (at least most of us, who are not kids of a select few) knows about this.
Please fight your own battle against BJP, don’s use us!
LikeLike
I happen to be a student of the college as well. First of all, this is a signed letter which implies that it is one which has consent from part of the student body. In case you weren’t aware, that is how a statement/petition works. Please refrain from making a fool of yourself on social media.
Secondly why are you highlight “American” as though it is something shameful? I’m no west propagandist ( far from it) but this kind of Xenophobia and discriminatory attitudes make for a rather petty debate, no?
We (the students of the college) were all aware of this incident and the consequent letter.
This isn’t a battle against BJP, it’s a battle against undemocratic methods of politics that threatens the right to free thought and speech. And yes, BJP seems to fall under that spectrum quite often. Do you wish for people to stop questioning unfair methods and fighting for their rights?
LikeLike
well done, I could not have composed it better myself. Well done.
LikeLike
“Speaking on behalf of the students” means that the media and the social media are using the complaints of a few students to represent the entire student community’s views. Which we are not in agreement with at all.
I urge you to read the coverage of this in the media, and decide how many students actually represent this anger against Mascarenhas. Apart from that reiteration, it is utterly false that no students from the present batches in St. Xavier’s have signed this. It has been drafted by present students and alumni together, and I, myself an alumni, don’t see why I should give up my engagement with the college I studied in. I also urge you to actually try and find out if there really is “no one in the college” who knows about this. Also, you should try not to hide your prejudices behind phrases like “kids of a select few.” What do you mean by that?
LikeLike
He means minorities when he says “select few”, let us not quibble about it :)) yes, you… too….
LikeLike
Well , if it says an attempt is being made to influence minds of students , then its obviously speaking on behalf of the students – whats the contradiction here? – they are raising issues on behalf of students citing that students are being influenced! .
Ex students writing on behalf of students are writing on behalf of ex students ! Nobody is speaking here on behalf of all students ( whether kids of others or not ) – they are signing in their individual capacities but they also happen to be students and Ex students of Xaviers – and nothing can take that away from them !where does the post say it speaks on behalf of ” All students of Xaviers ” since you’re talking about particularities ?
And incidentally, nobody was fighting their battles ‘using anyone’, even fr frazer refrained from mentioning anyone, until the BJP came in and did what it did in an open public tamasha- it cant be all one sided , can it ? if it makes a hue and cry talking and concerned on behalf of students , it should be ready for responses too !
LikeLike
The journalists havea purposely approached students on the condition that they criticize this move. And they claim based on those interviews that students are against this. Again, this letter was drafted by current studetns and alumni, please make the effort of confirming that by looking at the signatories.Our point that journalists have made a mountain out of a molehill, and also that a large chunk of students do not have a problem with what frazer has said.
LikeLike
Given below is a list of students, alumni and other well-wishers who have supported the petition (updated as of 27th April, 2014)
275) Ruby Pavri
276) Rajendra Shinde
277) Vinita Bhatia
278) Natasha Cooper
279) Madonna
280) Aneri Jhaveri
281) Shyamala
282) Kristopher Noronha
283) Dr Agnelo Menezes
284) Pritha Chakrabarti
285) Gina
286) Blossom
287) Mary Dominic
288) Vanessa
289) Rachana Agarwal
290) Dr. Fleur D’Souza
291) Kashmira
292) Anita Fernandes
293) Sukanya Sharma
294) Jyoti
295) Soli Cooper
296) Suprabha
297) Diago Fernandes
298) Rohan Pinto
299) Nilufer patel
300) Venil
301) John Ravi
302) Smita
303) Rishad Patell
304) Rishaya Palkhivala
305) Karishma Mhapadi
306) Ankit Tripathi
307) Arusha Basu
308) Benoy
309) Sneha Philip
310) Vipin
311) Andria Dsouza
312) Shaaz Ahmed
313) BARBOT Marie-Jose
314) Mitali Damle
315) Aniket Gupta
316) Sanjive Rau
317) Fiona D’souza
318) Clint Lopez
319) Fiona Pinto
320) Lady Chinki
321) Pawan
322) Nikhil John
323) Joanita Britto
324) Hazel Correa
325) Shalom Amanna
326) Rochelle Vaz
327) Charmaine mirza
328) Josceline M
329) Elle
330) Raymond
331) Kshiti Gala, Class of 2012
332) Agantuk S
333) Sudhir Mahadevan, Class of 1995
334) Jatin Shah
335) Jude Castelino
336) Dr Vasumathi Badrinathan
337) Verisha Remedios
338) Vaishnavi Kukillaya
339) Maurelle D’Sa
340) Verisha Remedios
341) Karsten Miranda
342) Dalreen Ramos
343) Richard D’Souza
344) Aldrin D’Souza
345) KAMAL
346) Shreya
347) Anwesha Ghosh
348) Samuel Rebello
349) Pankaja Balaji
350) Pooja
351) Joslyn
352) Jennifer D’Souza
353) Archana Fernandez
354) Madhuri Raijada
355) Shelton D’souza
356) Ibrahim Rungla
357) Mithila Rao
358) Joanne Athaide
359) Michael Fernandes
360) Melina Gomes
361) Dr. Nowshari
362) Derick Gomes
LikeLike
Let’s be clear that views expressed in the letter above aren’t representative of all Xavierities. I, for one, am quite critical of the way the issue was handled. Freedom of speech notwithstanding, the letter ought to have been more balanced or completely apolitical. And please don’t tell me it’s a question of personal opinion. People in positions of power and influence should be a tad more responsible.
LikeLike
Really ? so people in positions of power have no right to express their opinions ? Then noone should ever open their mouths to speak against anything for that the only way to be completely apolitical – i hope you know ‘apolitical’ does not mean neutral – if you dont speak out against what you feel is a clear wrong, then you’re choosing to be complicit. Especially when others are clearly flouting such norms left and right.
Dealing with power does not mean going ‘mum’ , it means stating clearly what your views are but presenting them as your views and leaving it to the students to decide, which he did . People in positions of power have a even bigger responsibility to take a call on progressive visions, ideas and principles and attempt to influence others through presenting facts, figures, analysis and views ! In its absence nothing great reformers or simply socially sensitive visionaries, men and women in the past who spoke from positions of power and privilege, ever had any validity ! For me being silent , is a bigger crime when you feel the material stakes for so many are so high ! These are moral fights which need to be fight . I think he was well within his rights to talk to his students about his views as long as he did not force them and left it to them to decide.
LikeLike
Of course, they don’t represent all Xavierites. It largely represents issues with a) the way in which this issue was misrepresented by the certain papers that needlessly politicised it; and b) the smear campaign on social media, like twitter. Which is why students and alumni who support the statement did so. Additionally, another reason why we decided to put it on a public forum was to ensure that people who disagreed with Fr Frazer get to voice their opinion – including many of us who worked on the statement.
As for the letter, I do think it wasn’t balanced: Fr Frazer missed out of crucial criticisms of the so-called Gujarat model, esp. recent developments against certain infrastructure projects, and the ramifications of extrapolating that logic of governance to other regions in India (e.g., hydro power and ecology); he also completely ignored the caste and gender question, choosing instead to focus on the red herring of communal-corporate interests.
He was also mild in his criticism of the UPA and Congress’ disastrous development policies. He did critique the MoEF, but ignored how especially the Congress’ ally, the NCP, backs potentially disastrous projects, the irrigation scam, the Western Ghats issue, and so on.
For me, his larger failure of responsibility would be that as professor of development anthropology, he missed out of issues that make a compelling case in debating the so-called Gujarat model.
That said, besides the alleged impropriety of sending the email/post, I have hardly seen any constructive debate personally, amongst critics of Fr Frazer – and this is despite people wanting to debate the Gujarat model.
Also, a note about academic autonomy: suddenly, no one is talking of larger issues that have continuity, like how the Mumbai University V-C is actually a prop by the Shiv Sena; we’re also not debating his excesses re: suspending Prof Hatekar last year, as being pertinent to the issue of political control over academic and institutional spaces. We’re not talking of how the Gujarat govt. itself spent tax payers’ money in sponsoring a study to rebuff a critical survey on caste.
These are important issue we’re all missing out on.
LikeLike
Well done.. In these times, when all the issues are considered only to be black & white, shrillness is considered to be an asset while being gentle & decent is treated as a liability, it is heartening to read such a well thought out article that manages to put across the idea that is central to the existence of this country – liberty, tolerance and respect.
LikeLike