Tension prevailed for a few hours at Jaivabai Municipal Girls Higher Secondary School here on Thursday as members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) condemned the alleged distribution of a book to the students authored by social reformer and Dravidar Kazhagam founder ‘Periyar’ E.V. Ramasamy.
According to S. Naren Babu, party’s district president of media cell, a parent of one of the students from the school had contacted him that the school had allegedly distributed the copies of the book ‘Penn Yen Adimaiyaanal’ (Why Were Women Enslaved) authored by Periyar and was originally published in 1934.
“The book denigrates the self-discipline of women,” he alleged, claiming that the content of the book was “vulgar and objectionable” and not suitable for adolescent girl students.
Led by BJP’s district president B. Senthilvel, around 10 functionaries visited the school and met the headmistress Stella, according to Mr. Babu. Over 1,000 copies of the book were present in the school, he claimed. The members were present for nearly five hours in the school and urged the authorities to stop distributing the copies to the students, he added.
Ms. Stella told The Hindu that the copies of the book were donated to the school’s library by an individual and denied Mr. Babu’s claims that the copies were distributed to any students. “Based on consultation with higher officials, we will take a decision on whether to distribute or not,” she said, refusing to comment any further.
When contacted, Chief Educational Officer of Tiruppur district R. Ramesh said that he will look into the issue and consult with the school’s headmistress.