The police have sought the video footage and transcript of writer Arundhati Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali lecture organised by the Mahatma Ayyankali Chair of Kerala University here on July 17.
Ayyankali Chair honorary director and head of the university’s Department of History Suresh Jnaneswaran told The Hindu that he had received a call from the City Police Commissioner’s office seeking the original video footage and full transcript besides a statement on the event on Friday. In her address, Ms. Roy quoted the Mahatma pertaining to the work he did during 1904 and made a comparative survey of the work done by Ayyankali to buttress her arguments in her address on ‘Re-imagining Struggles of the Margins: History of the Conquered and the Oppressed’. The speech had triggered a furore in the State with many accusing Ms. Roy of having denigrated Gandhiji. On Thursday, the State Congress leadership meeting here adopted a resolution criticising Ms. Roy’s speech.
On checking the number, Mr. Jnaneswaran found that the call had come from the Special Branch of the city police.
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