Historian Peter Heehs asked to leave India India
Nandita Saikia @nsaikia Historian Peter Heehs, who's spent 40 yrs
studying Aurobindo, asked to leave India
American Historian Peter Heehs whose book ‘Lives of
Sri Aurobindo’ raked up controversy is keeping his fingers crossed after Union
home minister P Chidambaram said that he would review the Ministry’s decision
not to renew his visa, by Monday.
Heehs, a member of the team that digitised and
archived the works of freedom fighter and spiritual leader Sri Aurobindo during
the last 40 years, was abruptly told by the Regional Registration Office (RRO)
at Puducherry on March 29 that his visa would not be extended further.
His visa was in suspension for one-and-half years
following controversy over his book. Now the RRO has stated that his visa will
be valid only till April 15 and no new visa application would be accepted from
him after that. “If the decision to renew is not granted then I would have to
leave the country to get a new entry visa,” Heehs told Express on Saturday.
“I have lived in Puducherry for the last 41 years as
a guest of the Indian government and am grateful to have been given this
opportunity. I look forward to stay and continue to work as a historian, study
and do ‘sadhana’ as an inmate of Sri Aurobindo Ashram,” said Heehs who came
here at the age of 22 in 1971.
The controversy over the book, published by Columbia
University Press in 2008, has been particularly severe over the portion dealing
with Sri Aurobindo’s relationship with his spiritual collaborator, Mirra
Alfassa, popularly known as The Mother.
Besides, the book has been stated to be “probably
blasphemous” according to a notification issued by the Orissa Government in
2009. The Indian publication of the book by Penguin India
The appeal against the ‘blasphemous notification’ as
well the freezing of the publication are pending in Court and is slated to come
up for hearing on April 4, said Heehs. Since the controversy erupted, a section of
Ashramites along with some devotees had been seeking the expulsion of Peter
Heehs from the Ashram and the cancellation of visa through protests and
agitations as they felt that it had hurt the sentiments of the inmates and
devotees. It had also created law and order problems in the area leading to
registration of cases.
Heehs expressed that his book was based on research
for which he had travelled to various archives in New Delhi ,
Kolkata and Baroda
I understand and sympathise with the feelings of
devotees and regret any hurt they may have felt while reading my book or
hearing reports of what I have written. I ask from them the same sort of
understanding in regard to an approach that may seem strange to them,” said
Peter Heehs. On the other hand, several people including inmates
and devotees who have read the book have found nothing objectionable.
Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh
as well as some historian and scholars who commended the book have protested
against the move to cancel his visa. They had sent separate petitions to Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram for reconsideration of
the decision. US
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