Roald Dahl rewrite sparks uproar, Gandhi called ‘racist’, British Sikh family fights for justice

What has been the reaction in the UK to children’s writer Roald Dahl’s works being rewritten?Why does Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Westminster figure in a list of contentious statues?Why is the death of Ricky Reel, a young British Sikh man, being reinvestigated for racist murder 26 years later?What details of the UK-India Young Professionals’ Programme have been published?In London Live, the weekly buzz from BritainIn this podcast episode, the discussion includes the uproar over works of children’s author Roald Dahl being rewritten for offensive language, why the description of a Gandhi statue in Westminster has raised eyebrows, and why the death of a young British man, Ricky Keel aka Lakhwinder Keel, is being reinvestigated 26 years later.Roald Dahl rewrite outrageThe rewriting of Roald Dahl’s works have caused uproar in the UK. Augustus Gloop can no longer be called fat, he is called enormous. The cloud men have become cloud people. Old hag has become old crow. You must be mad, woman has become you must be out of your mind. Miss Trunchbull in Matilda no longer has a ‘great horsey’ face. And the line in The Witches where it used to say ‘even if she is working as a cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman’ has been changed to: ‘even if she is working as a top scientist or running a business.’ Reference to Rudyard Kipling has been removed. Even the tortoises have been affected; there is a line that says tortoises are a very backward creature and therefore they can only understand words written backwards. That’s become ‘they can only understand words written backwards.’ There was a survey in a national newspaper in which 94% of people were against the changes. Quite a number of high profile people have come out speaking out against them. Salman Rushdie said: “Roald Dahl was no angel but this is absurd censorship. Puffin Books and the Dahl estate should be ashamed.” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: "When it comes to our rich and varied literary heritage, I agree with the BFG that we shouldn't gobblefunk around with words. I think it's important that works of literature and works of fiction are preserved and not air brushed we defend the right to free speech and expression.” Suzanne Nossel, CEO of Pen America, also issued a very robust statement saying that they are alarmed at the news of hundreds of changes to venerated works by Roald Dahl. She said literature is meant to be surprising and provocative, that's part of its potency. By setting out to remove any reference that might cause offence, you dilute the power of storytelling. If an editor wishes to go beyond that then readers should be put on notice about what changes have been made and those wishing to read the work in its original form should have that opportunity. She pointed out that anything could be considered offensive to somebody. After the furore, the publishers said Dahl's original books would be printed alongside the updated versions.Gandhi statue on contentious listThe Tarnished Jewels report by the influential centre-right UK thinktank Policy Exchange looks at how the streets around the Houses of Parliament in Westminster have descended into squalor and that there is graffiti all over the place. It pointed out that this is the sort of jewel of Britain -- it's where the State sits -- and yet it's not treated in that manner. In the report, there was this little footnote in the report that journalists saw that actually ended up becoming the news. It was about a secret list of contentious statues that the Metropolitan Police have been keeping. There are 32 statues on this list, and Gandhi’s was one of them because of remarks he apparently made about black South Africans. The statues on the list are those that the police fear could get attacked or defaced by protesters. Winston Churchill is also on the list and his description caused some controversy as well. The authors of the report disagree with the police’s description of Churchill as someone who referred to British imperialism is being for the good of the primitive and subject races, and one who referred to Indians as a beastly people with a beastly religion and Palestinians as barbaric hordes. The police also described his handling of the 1943 to 1944 famine as particularly contentious with Churchill having been accused of murdering over 3,000,000 Indians. The report says these are distortions of history. Death 26 years ago to be reinvestigatedA British Sikh man called Ricky Reel -- his actual name was Lakhwinder Reel -- he was found in the bottom of the river Thames in London after a night out on the 14th of October 1997. His body wasn't actually found until a week later, so initially it was a missing person case. Reel had gone for a night out with three South Asian heritage friends as well and there was a racist attack; some men shouted at them ‘Pakis go home.’ Reel and his friends dispersed to get away from these people attacking them and then they regrouped, but Reel didn't ever reappear. When his body was found, police claimed that he fell into the river while urinating. The family say that is not what happened and they think he was possibly murdered or that it was something connected to the racist attack. They say that the police never properly investigated this incident. When he was missing and they went to see the police, apparently the officer said ‘Oh, are you it is not because you've arranged his marriage for him and he's run away with his girlfriend…’ And then the police officer winked and said: ‘… or boyfriend’. The family finally managed to have a meeting with the new Metropolitan Police commissioner in January this year and the police have agreed to sort of reopen the case and go back and investigate. Another twist in this tale is that the family got spied on by the police. UK India Young Professional Scheme It is for young Indians -- aged 18 to 30 -- to come and live, work, study, look for work, set up a business in the UK. The details of eligibility and application criteria have now been released. All the details are on https://www.gov.uk/india-young-professionals-scheme-visa.Host: Sumit BhattacharyaAudio production: Prateek Kapoor