Welcome to New India: Jairam Ramesh on Bombay HC’s ‘War and Peace’ poser
PTI, Aug 29, 2019, 2:41 PM IST
New Delhi: Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday termed “truly bizarre” the Bombay High Court asking an activist to explain why he kept a copy of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”.
“Welcome to New India,” Ramesh said, a day after the Bombay High Court Wednesday asked Elgar Parishad-Bhima Koregaon case accused Vernon Gonsalves to explain why he kept “objectionable material” like a copy of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and some CDs at his home.
The single-judge bench of Justice Sarang Kotwal, hearing the bail plea of Gonsalves and others, also said “such books” and CDs prima facie indicated they contained some material against the State.
“Truly bizarre that somebody is being asked by a judge of the Bombay High Court to explain why he has copy of Tolstoy’s War & Peace, a true classic. And to think Tolstoy was a major influence on the Mahatma. Welcome to New India!” Ramesh tweeted.
The classic novel about Russia during Napoleonic wars became a point of contention after Pune Police claimed the book was part of the “highly incriminating evidence” it had seized from Gonsalves’ house in Mumbai during raids conducted a year ago.
Pune Police also read out titles of several other books and CDs allegedly recovered from Gonsalves’ house, which included CDs titled ‘Rajya Daman Virodhi’ released by Kabir Kala Manch. “The title of the CD ‘Rajya Daman Virodhi’ itself suggests it has something against the state while ‘War and Peace’ is about a war in another country. Why did you (Gonsalves) keep objectionable material such as books like ‘War and Peace’, books and CDs at home? You will have to explain this to the court,” said Justice Kotwal.
Udayavani is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel and stay updated with the latest news.
Top News
Related Articles More
Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam
Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site
Elections: Vote counting begins Maharashtra & Jharkhand
MVA collects letters of support from over 160 candidates to form govt in Maharashtra
Air pollution: SC flags Delhi govt’s failure to implement GRAP-4 curbs on entry of trucks
MUST WATCH
Latest Additions
Kaziranga National Park to be centrepiece of 12th edition of ITM in Assam
Engineer dead, supervisor injured as wire rope snaps at metro site
Karnataka bypolls: Cong leads in Sandur, BJP and JD(S) ahead in Shiggaon and Channapatna
COP29: Civil society protests climate finance proposal, calls for ‘no deal’ over ‘bad deal’
Elections: Vote counting begins Maharashtra & Jharkhand
Thanks for visiting Udayavani
You seem to have an Ad Blocker on.
To continue reading, please turn it off or whitelist Udayavani.