Even as Mumbai goes to the polls today, one of the city’s most illustrious academic institutions, St Xavier’s College, Dhobi Talao Mumbai, has become the centre of a raging controversy. The principal Fr Frazer Mascarenhas, in an email from his official email ID to college students criticised the Gujarat model stating that human development index indicators and the cultural polarisation of the population show that Gujarat has had a terrible experience in the last 10 years. It is a detailed communication going on about how Gujarat has been the worst performer in settling claims and distributing title deeds to tribals. The letter has also been put up on the college’s official website.

It is shocking that a principal of an educational institution has sought to influence students by posting a political letter on the website and sending it from his official ID. If he had sent it in personal capacity, that would be a different matter altogether. He has sought to influence his students whatever his defence not only to go and vote as he claims, but also vote anti-Modi by slamming the Gujarat model.