Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar has asked Calicut University to reconsider the inclusion of rapper Vedan's song 'Bhoomi Njan Vazhunnidam' (The Earth I Live In) in the syllabus of the fourth-semester undergraduate Malayalam Language and Literature course.

The Governor's intervention is based on a complaint filed by Anuraj A K, a Calicut University syndicate member and also the director of Mahatma Gandhi College of Mass Communication. Anuraj was nominated as syndicate member by former governor Arif Mohammad Khan.

"I had informed the VC of my reservations and he had said he would look into it. It was later (on June 14) that I wrote to the Governor," Anuraj told Onmanorama.

Anuraj's disapproval is not directed at the song but at the singer. "He is not the right model for adolescent students. In fact, he himself has declared that he is not a good role model. A link to this one song is enough for students to check out his other videos. In some he uses obscene words. In others, he is shown boozing with his friends. Besides, these are rap songs whose grip on young minds is instant," Anuraj said.

Anuraj has also informed the Governor of Vedan's drug use. "He is still an accused and had been let off on station bail only because the quantity in his possession was not large enough to be arrested. To promote him is to indirectly promote drug use," Anuraj said. "He has not been exonerated in the leopard tooth issue either," he added.

'Bhoomi Njan Vazhunnidam' is an outburst against the brutality of wars, racial oppression and climate change. His words map war-devastated and pity-starved lands across continents; Syria, Korea, Congo, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Palestine. He screams at the ravages done to Amazon and the Arctic.

Not even the communists are spared. "China, the scent of burnt Quran spreads under your red flag," he sings, a nod to the oppression of mostly Muslim Uyghirs in Communist China. There is also a reference to Bharathamba. "And in a land benighted by religious bigotry, Bharat Mata stumbles around in search of light."

The song ('Bhoomi Njan Vazhunnidam') has been included in the Introduction to Comparative Literature, under the module 'Puthu Pravanathakal' (new trends). It is taught along with Michael Jackson's controversial 'All I want to say is that they don't really care about us', a now legendary song against racial oppression.

Jackson's rant against white supremacy ('Skinhead, deadhead/Everybody gone bad) was accused of anti-semitism. The words 'Jew me, sue me/Everybody, do me/Kick me, kike me/Don't you black or white me' was interpreted as against Jews when it actually placed Jews among the victims of oppression.