Yet another announcement of a super-speciality hospital in Chennai: yet another huge and imposing structure – nine-storeyed, 3,48,480 square feet building erected on an eight-acre site at a cost of Rs.250 crore, is intended to get decayed. If Jayalalitha is truly interested in public health, she would not have abandoned Salem Super Speciality Hospital, which was functioning and used police force against agitations to reopen it. So, she has announced conversion of the new Secretariat complex and now the Anna Centenary Library into super speciality hospital, so that her scheme of abandoning whatever was constructed during DMK rule is made acceptable to the people and thwart criticism. But people could be bullied once; but now the public opinion has turned against her announcement, as reflected in the criticism of all other political parties and the sections of the media, which remained supportive or nonplussed when the new secretariat complex was abandoned.
It now transpires that Anna Centenary Library constituted by Kalaignar was also an eyesore for Jayalalitha from the beginning since she assumed power, in her scheme of ‘undoing everything done by Kalaignar’. It was not a sudden decision to make the announcement. As early as June, instructions were given to scrutinize all files pertaining to the library. Officials of the DVAC were also entrusted with this task. All documents exchanged among different departments right from the time the project was conceived to the point when books were procured were read with utmost care to look for lapses. Obviously they could not find anything.
Some officials also observed that while a total of five lakh books were purchased ahead of the inauguration on September 15, 2010, the process of sourcing the remaining nearly seven lakh titles slowed down significantly after the ADMK came to power. “There were administrative delays at every stage. Everybody’s hands were tied” an official had said.
The management of the air-conditioned auditorium, now famous for having hosted US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and hailed by her, was quietly shifted from the Public Libraries Department to the Information Department. This shift happened around the time Clinton visited the city. Anyone who wishes to hire the swanky space must now go through the Information Department. In addition, any attempt to get feedback on the library from users seen on the premises was met with severe resistance by the staff at the library over the last few months. Some staff members told press reporters that they could not speak to anyone even at the parking lot of the library. Photographers, too, were asked not to take any visual of the facility.
All the same, readers and users of the facility love being there. Whether it is about civil service aspirants who spend hours together at the facility everyday or students and professors of engineering, medicine, other sciences and humanities who regularly visit for references to advanced books, e-journals and e-magazines, which they claim are not available in their colleges, universities and any other libraries, or children seen sitting beneath the artificial tree created at the library, legs stretched and lost in their books, and some engrossed in computers sitting relaxed on cosy furniture, the public who regularly visit to read news magazines, journals, novels, literature etc. - everyone clearly wants it to stay.
Jayalalitha’s announcement evoked spontaneous protests from scholars, writers, educationists, students, political parties and the public. There are statements resolutions, meetings, demonstrations and proposed sustained agitations by various associations/ organizations and groups of individuals.
But another youthful and enlightened section which hitherto remained aloof from protest actions have also, may be for the first time, joined in the outcry for a public cause.
A day after the announcement, public outcry welled up on social networking sites and other forums. The library also saw a large turnout, despite the rain, on Nov.4. According to sources, the library could have been visited by over 5,000 people, some of whom came in groups and mainly out of curiosity to see if it was the last day for allowing visitors.
The feedback book on the ground floor had many anxious students of ‘Bring your own book reading section' leaving a message or two for the authorities. A few of them wrote that the library was a great gift for the student community. Others such as Arun Raj, an engineering student, were surprised when a library staff asked him if he had given his feedback on the book. “The book is always there but what surprised me was the reminder. Perhaps it was a small way to mobilise support for the government to revoke its decision,” he said. The anxiety among student community was evident as many kept discussing how long they could come, when will the new library come up and will it also have similar facilities.
On social networking site Facebook, the ‘Save Anna Centenary Library' page was full of comments. Another petition to the Chief Minister on www.change.org to withdraw shifting of the library was asking public to sign.
The Gen Y has now taken matters into their hands. Justice online seems to be the latest mantra. “That’s the advantage of the virtual space — if used in the right manner it can translate into a powerful tool of revolution.
The reach of such campaigns among the urban crowd is the highest as well as the fastest. Tabulating and collecting views on the subject becomes more feasible,” says Kiruba Shankar, a tech expert.
Closer home, the campaign that has been making the rounds is ‘Save the Anna Library’. CM Jayalalitha’s announcement to convert the Anna Centenary Library into a pediatric hospital has triggered a series of online campaigns — from social networks and blog posts to online petitions.
The city folk are making sure that their protest is heard loud and clear. “I just signed the petition ‘Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu: withdraw the decision of shifting the Anna Centenary Library’ and wanted to see if you could help by adding your name” reads the email sent by Keeranur Janakirraja, an online protester. “In the case of Anna Library, the shifting is clearly uncalled for. Instead of wasting public money, the government should build a new multi-super-specialty hospital in some other area of the city,” says another protester, Lakshmimarayanan Subramanian.
Youngsters need to empathise with the cause today. “The reach of the online medium is global so whether it be for Anna Library or Anna Hazare, a degree of sensibility is required,” says actor-turned-politician Khushboo. Having realised their moral obligation, Gen Y has risen to the occasion, though not in the predictable way. They would rather go the route that says — if you agree ‘click here’, or ‘post a comment’, or just ‘like’.
But, as Kalaignar has pointed out, the move to convert Anna Centenary Library, cannot be seen in isolation but as part of Jayalalitha’s attempt to destroy symbols of Tamil culture one by one –beginning with vacating Pavendar Classical Tamil Research Library overnight from the Assembly hall in Fort St. George and dumping rare books, manuscripts and ancient palm manuscripts somewhere, on May 13 even when Assembly election results were pouring-in, showing contempt for classical status for Tamil, not only because it was achieved by Kalaignar but also because of her innate antipathy for equating Tamil with Sanskrit, out of which the very name and symbol of Classical Tamil in school text books and in all government records and displays were covered up or removed, portraits of Tiruvalluvar and Tirukurals were obscured in text books and from government buildings, Tholkappiya Poonga was put on hold, the nameboard of Classical Tamil Poonga was covered up, withdrawal of armed guards for the huge Tiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari and now abandoning Anna Centenary Library.
Collective memory is an important feature of group (race or community) identity. The collective memory or common history of a group is represented by its cultural institutions, including libraries. In history, numerous instances of genocide, or attack on groups occurred. This continues even now. These attacks often include aggression against the cultural institutions which, as evidence of a separate cultural identity, are seen to give political legitimacy to the group under attacks.
The world’s first great library of Alexandria in ancient Egypt was destroyed deliberately at least once for ideological reasons. A second century BC Chinese emperor is known to have ordered a huge volume of books to be burned, and book burnings took place during both the Inquisition and the Reformation. Other times they were damaged by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods or accidental fires.
The Library of Antioch in Antioch city in ancient Syria was burned and destroyed in 364 AD by Emperor Juvian. It had heavily stocked by the aid of his non-Christian predecessor, Emperor Julian.
The Library of the Serapeum in Alexandria in Ancient Egypt was burned and looted at the decree of Theophilus of Alexandria, who was so ordered by Theodosius I in 392 AD.
The Library of Ctesiphon in Ancient Persia in 651 AD was destroyed by Arab invaders and the books were thrown into the Euphrates on the order of Caliph Umar.
The Library of Nishapur was destroyed in 1154AD by Oguz Turks. City partially destroyed and libraries sacked and burned.
The Nalanda University complex (the most renowned repository of Buddhist knowledge in the world at the time) was sacked by Turkic mogul invaders under Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1193 AD. This event is seen as a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India.
The Imperial Library of Constantinople was destroyed in 1204.
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad in Iraq was destroyed by Mongol Invaders in 1258. Destroyed during the Battle of Baghdad. Survivors said that the waters of the Tigris river ran black with ink from the enormous quantities of books flung into the river.
Madrassah Library in Granada, Crown of Castile was destroyed in 1499 by Troops commanded by Cardinal Cisneros. The library was attacked by troops of Cardinal Cisneros in late 1499, the books were taken to the Plaza Bib-Rambla, where they were burned in public view.
The Glasney College in Penryn, Cornwall in England was looted by Royal Officials in 1548. The smashing and looting of the Cornish colleges at Glasney and Crantock brought an end to the formal scholarship which had helped to sustain the Cornish language and the Cornish cultural identity.
The Earl of Worcester's library in Raglan Castle at Wales was burned by Parliament Army in 1646. The library was burned during the English Civil War by forces under the command of Thomas Fairfax.
The Royal library of the Kings of Burma at Mandalay Palace was burned by Troops of the British Army on 1885-87. The British looted the palace at the end of the 3rd Anglo-Burmese War (some of the artefacts which were taken away are still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London) and burned down the royal library.
The Library of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium on August 25, 1914 was set on fire by German occupation troops. The Germans set the library on fire as part of the burning of the entire city in an attempt to use terror to quell Belgian resistance to occupation.
The Institut für Sexualwissenschaft at Berlin in Nazi Germany was burned on 6th May 1933 by members of the Deutsche Studentenschaft. They made an organised attack on the Institute of Sex Research. A few days later, the Institute's library and archives were publicly hauled out and burned in the streets of the Opernplatz.
During World War II, Japanese military forces destroyed or partly destroyed numerous Chinese libraries, including libraries at the National University of Tsing Hua, Peking (lost 200,000 of 350,000 books), the University Nan-k'ai, T'ien-chin (totally destroyed, 224,000 books lost), Institute of Technology of He-pei, T'ien-chin (completely destroyed), Medical College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), Agricultural College of He-pei, Pao-ting (completely destroyed), University Ta Hsia, Shanghai (completely destroyed), University Kuang Hua, Shanghai (completely destroyed), and the National University of Hunan (completely destroyed).
The Library of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium was set on fire by German occupation troops in 1940 while fighting between Belgian and German troops.
The National Library of Serbia at Belgrade in Yugoslavia was destroyed by German during the World War II bombing of Belgrade.
The Załuski Library at Warsaw in Poland in 1944 was burned by Nazi German troops. The library was burned down during the Nazi suppression of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. The burning of this library was part of the general setting on fire of a large part of the city of Warsaw.
The National Library of Cambodia at Phnom Penh in Cambodia was burned by The Khmer Rouge in 1976-79. Burned most of the books and all bibliographical records. Only 20% of materials survived.
In May 1981 a mob of Sinhalese chauvinists composed of thugs and plainclothes police officers went on a rampage in minority Tamil-dominated northern Jaffna, and burned down the Jaffna Public Library. At least 95,000 volumes - the second largest library collection in South Asia - were destroyed.
The Oriental Institute in Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina was destroyed by the shellfire during the Siege of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb Army on 17th May 1972 and the National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina at Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina on 25 August 1992 by Bosnian Serb Army. The library was completely destroyed during the Siege of Sarajevo.
The Abkhazian Research Institute of History, Language and Literature & National Library of Abkhazia at Sukhumi in Abkhazia were destroyed during the War in Abkhazia in Oct.1992 by Georgian Armed Forces.
The Pol-i-Khomri Public Library at Pol-i-Khomri in Afghanistan was destroyed by Taliban militia in 1998. It held 55,000 books and old manuscripts.
The Iraq National Library and Archive, Al-Awqaf Library, Central Library of the University of Baghdad, Library of Bayt al-Hikma, Central Library of the University of Mosul and other libraries at Baghdad in Iraq were destroyed by Ba'athists in 2003. Several libraries were looted, set on fire, damaged and destroyed in various degrees during the 2003 Iraq War.
Thus history is replete with instances of inimical attacks on libraries and other cultural identities of a group of people by alien forces from within and outside, in order to subjugate the group and establish the hegemony of their alien cultures.
Jayalalitha’s onslaught on Classical Tamil Research Library and Anna Centenary Library should be seen in this perspective. Besides her antipathy for classical language status for Tamil, and portraits and monuments of Tiruvalluvar, reversing the decision of starting Tamil New Year from the first day of Thai month and reverting back to the Hindu mythological calendar against the wishes of renowned Tamil scholars is yet another attack on the cultural identity of Tamils.
Added to these manouvures is the erasing of the Tirukural line, ‘Ãw¥bgh¡F« všyh c殡F«’ (All life on earth is same in origin), because it is opposed to ‘varnasrama dharma’ dividing people into four castes with rights, privileges and duties also categorised. Hence this is Jayalalitha’s blatant attempt to push through varnasrama dharma in Tamil Nadu.
These moves of Jayalalitha as a whole constitute Aryanised Sangh Parivar onslaught against Tamil language, culture and racial identity. A challenge ought to face and overcome unitedly cutting across political and social divides!
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