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Pratap Bhanu Mehta | Twitter@@pbmehta | February 12, 2014 5:07 pm Print

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Yet another book withdrawn and pulped by the publisher under

pressure. The “pulping” of Wendy Doniger’s book, The Hindus: An

Alternative History, is the pulping of liberal India. The agreement by the

publisher to withdraw it is like putting a contract out on free expression.

In India you publish at your peril. It is in a shockingly long line of books

and art withdrawn from free circulation one way or the other, sometimes

against the law, sometimes in the garb of law.

India is a democracy, but its reputation as a bastion of liberal values is

dimming by the day. The argumentative Indian is being replaced by the

offended Indian, the tolerant Indian by the intolerant mob, the reflective

citizen by the hurt communal mobiliser, the courageous Indian by the

cowardly thug who needs the state to protect it against every argument,

the pious Indian by the ultimate blasphemer who thinks he needs to

protect the gods rather than the gods being there to protect him.

Whether this is a tiny minority or represents the majority is beside the

point. The point is that the assault on free expression is winning. How is

liberal India being silenced?

Liberal India is being silenced because its joy at exposing hypocrisy is

Silencing of liberal India

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SUMMARY

Court s, publishers,

educators and

professional offence

mongers are to

blame.

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Liberal India is being silenced because its joy at exposing hypocrisy is far greater thanits commitment to defending freedom.

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The rise and fall of theSantosh Trophy

Even the famous 1956

Melbourne Games team

comprised of players who

had earned their stripes in

the Santosh Trophy.

View from the left:

Looking aheadEmphasising the

importance of curbing

editorial says the

“increasing use of money

power”, it argues that this

must be given “sufficient

and special attention”.

Humanity denied

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enough.

City of envy and despair

Home of Telugu spirit?Global city? Hyderabad is

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far greater than its commitment to defending freedom. Every time a book

is under assault, the same tiresome argument breaks out. “Oh, you did

not speak when so and so was banned. You did not speak when

Taslima Nasreen was the target, or when Jitender Bhargava was

ordered to withdraw his book on Air India.” Or there is the partisan

division: you did not object to what the Congress did to Salman

Rushdie, or the CPM in West Bengal.

The point is that we spend all our psychic energies in exposing each

other, not in defending values. If freedom is to survive, we have to set

aside this debate on hypocrisy. It devours all energy. But it also

legitimises the disposition that is at the heart of banning books: a fragile

ego that takes joy in revenge, rather than taking pride in freedom. Let us

get on with the task of defending the core values.

Liberal India has been silenced because it never understood that

toleration does not, to use Govind Ranade’s phrase, come in halves.

You cannot pick and choose when to be tolerant. You cannot choose to

be tolerant along partisan lines. Neither can you choose to be tolerant

based on what you think are distinctions between good and bad

scholarship, serious and scurrilous books. These distinctions are a

good basis for criticism; they are not the best basis for deciding whom

the law will protect. And R.V. Bhasin, author of a banned book on Islam,

will be protected as much as Wendy Doniger. And so it should be. If you

want a hundred flowers to bloom, a few weeds will grow as well.

Liberal India has been silenced because the one institution that needs to

protect it constantly fails: the courts. Civil society and politics have a lot

to answer for. But the incentives to mobilise around the banning of

books have largely been created by the laws and by the convoluted

jurisprudence of the courts. A law that signals that it is open to banning

books will incite mobilisations to ban books. If the state gives the

category of taking easy “offence” such aid and succour, offence will be

easily taken.

In the case of Doniger’s book, there seems to have been no threat of

the book provoking large-scale violence. Despite protest and criticism,

the book has been in circulation. But more importantly, the courts have

sown the seeds of further confusion. For example, the Bombay High

Court judgment on the Bhasin case upheld the idea that it is “no defence

that the writing contains a truthful account of past events or is supported

by good authority.” Courts uphold the idea that the criticism of religion

must only be “academic”, whatever that means. Lampooing is part of

legitimate criticism.

While banning the novel, Dharamkaarana, they showed no regard for

the artistic integrity of the work. Courts should be the bully pulpit of

constitutional values. They should draw strong lines protecting freedom.

No wonder liberals worry that the court will not rescue them. No wonder the mere threat of litigation is a dampener on free expression.

Liberal India has been silenced by professional offence-mongers. Those

who now claim to speak on behalf of communities use every trick they

can to silence. There is often the threat of violence. The use of law is

not, in this instance, an exercise of citizens’ rights. It is the use of law as

a tactic of intimidation. Often, these groups have the implicit backing of

political parties. No political party in Maharashtra stood up for the rights

of scholars. As a result of the James Laine episode, most publishers do

not want to even touch books on Shivaji.

The BJP’s relationship with groups that initiate these mobilisations has

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TAGS: An Alternative History Dina Nath Batra Hinduism Hindutva Homi Bhabha Kumkum Roy

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285

often been one of plausible deniability. It gives aid and succour to

vicious offence mongering, it legitimises this contrived narrative of Hindu

hurt. All it needs to do to overcome these suspicions is come clean and

emphatically state that it does not support the “withdrawal” of books. We

do not need political parties that take on the garb of liberalism by

avoiding issues; we need political parties that actually defend liberal

values.

Liberal India has been let down by its publishers. If major presses like

Oxford University Press (OUP) and Penguin cave in to the threat of

litigation so easily and fail to take matters up to the Supreme Court, it will

become easier for people to intimidate. Recall OUP’s conduct in the

case of the Calcutta High Court banning a scholarly monograph by

Hans Dembowski on the judiciary. Indian business is supine because it

feels politically vulnerable at so many different levels.

Liberal India has been silenced by its educators. The extraordinary

failure of the project of liberal education is manifesting itself in the

pathology of liberal institutions. If so many of India’s educated middle

classes, which inhabit key institutions like the judiciary, bureaucracy,

media, are so confused about basic constitutional values, if they are so

content at liberty being abridged, one by one, you have to wonder about

liberal education.

The fact that universities themselves did not remain exemplars of

criticism, that they banished a healthy engagement with tradition has

meant that the most ignorant and violent have now become the

custodians of tradition. Wendy Doniger could not have damaged

Hindus. But if Liberal India dies, Hinduism will die as well.

The writer is president, Centre for Policy Research, Delhi, and a

contributing editor for ‘The Indian Express’

express@expressindia.com

to help us personalise your reading experience.

Penguin Books India Random House India Wendy Doniger Wendy Doniger Controversy

19 Comments

PHOTOS

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• •

Atibhi Jha •

Disclaimer: Please do not brand me as a right winged person.

I am an ordinary citizen of India, educated in a modern catholic school and

working in MNC IT firm.

The

writer comfortably chooses to label all those who are against the book as a

communal mob but rather does not heed to the falsification of facts and

misinterpretationof sacred texts by doniger. Yes, i do feel offended and i have every right to

feel so because it is a question of my faith, my identity and my existence. I

fail to understand this hue & cry when the people have chosen a legal path

to oppose the book instead of vandalism and threatening. I refuse to accept the

logic that just because society has refused to accept the book it is branded as

illiberal. Does liberalism only mean to accept whatever insult is written about

our culture without any basics or facts? It has been upheld by many scholars

that the book is factually incorrect, has moulded and misinterpreted the texts

to make it look lucrative and exotic. This is not the first time Doniger has chosen to do

so, her

• •

Yatharth •

Couldn't have said it better myself. A brilliant response. Keep it up.

• •

AG •

Author makes following argument:

"A law that signals that it is open to banning books will incite

mobilisations to ban books. If the state gives the category of taking

easy “offence” such aid and succour, offence will be easily taken."

Only one point I want to make:

If the law or state "doesn't signal" this, wouldn't the opposite happen as well, i.e. taking

extreme liberty in abusing some one (a person or an idea) in the name of being liberal.i think extremes are wrong on either side and we need to have a law and state to make

sure neither happens.

• •

Fedupindian •

So the BJP is responsible for this situation, according to this hypocrite. Which religious

community has been rioting and murdering people all over the world claiming it is above

criticism? It was not Hindus. Why was the Da Vinci code banned in India? It was not

protect the feelings of Hindus. Pseudo-sickos like Mehta were silent when the Satanic

verses and the da Vinci code were banned. These moral pygmies have no right to

complain now.

• •

LogM •

So any creepy, sexually deviated and sick minded person would interpret the history of

a major religion and that person should be allowed to have a free run? If that is called

being liberal then I hate being liberal. What is the difference between such a person and

the hate speeches of Taliban. Just because he/she publishes a book, the person gets

special privileges?

Ananth •

Recently in one of his hit column piece Mr.Mehta had written 'piety should not be

confused with rituals'. He too is falling into the same trap. Liberalism should not be

mistaken for tolerance of slander or outright abuse. India is saddled with numerous

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• •

chaff and the grain. When the literacy was poor such writings were disseminated down

below with caution. Bereft of that safeguard one has to now allow such scurrilous

writings in doses only to the impressionable minds as we have encouraged too fast

assimilation of ills of other societies and not their wells.

• •

BRIJ KHANNA(USA) •

Why should show tolerance to this Book on Hinduism by Wendy Doniger. I challenge

her to write a book on Islam then face the consequences. We have asked the publisher

to shred the books and recall from their dealers. Had it been about Islam both the

Publisher and writer would have subjected to FATWAS and they would have gone to

protected houses under 24/7 surveillance by electronics gadgets and security forces.

This is not freedom of expression rather Gross misuse of it.

• •

Sachi Mohanty •

Rushdie wrote. And faced the consequences.

• •

biranchi narayan •

What an article and more significantly what a fertile mind Mr. Mehta has! Awesome truly.

"Ultimate blasphemer thinks he needs to protect the gods rather than the gods being

there to protect him"--- A real Indian version of Voltaire.Modern Ind seems to miss this

simple point.I have no doubt in my mind that this ASPECT is going to define the destiny

of 21st century & will be wholeheartedly adored across the globe. Long live PBM

• •

DEEPTHROAT •

Did anyone opposed to the withdrawal of the book participate in debates on the

hounding of Taslima Nasreen, banning of Satanic Verses, oppostition to Kala Hassan's

film on Muslim Terrorism etc... If you did please dont state your views publicly in this

case as you have no locus standi.

• •

No Just ice Please •

Mr Mehta appears to be carried away by his own pomposity and self importance. Dear

Sir, this is supposed to be a HISTORY book, history of a PEOPLE, not a piece of fiction.

If someone writes a HISTORY of Mr Mehta's family and calls them all pedophiles, we

would not mind if he calls for them to be prohibited from doing so. Now if someone can

PROVE, according to COMMON UNDERSTANDING, then that would be a different

matter. But Mr Mehta would not like someone to simply CHOOSE TO INTERPRET,

according to personal fetishes and bigotry.

That Mr Mehta is unable to grasp this s imple fact shows a lot about how totally deluded

our self-appointed liberals have become. Mr Mehta need not worry about the death of

Hinduism. Hindus have always had more than enough supply of liberal lunatics like him

and has survived. So rest, easy, Mr Mehta.

• •

Sachi Mohanty •

Religion is NOT history. It's MYTH.

Got it?

All your gods are merely grandmother's fairy tales.

• •

These Atheist •

More Free Speech is always better than Less Free Speech. Is GOI (may not be in this

case) trying to become like Catholic Church as a book banning organization ??

Kumar •

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RSS opposes minority status for Jain

community

•

— true.jains buddists and sikh

are actually part of Hinduism.please dont

divide hindus.

Kejriwal not AAP’s PM candidate: Patkar

•

— Best wishes AAP! It is the

beginning of a new era

Election Live: RJD rebel Ram Kripal to

join BJP today

•

— It good to see,

such a trends now Ram kripal ji joining

BJP.So there is no such thing called …

Fast-track trials of legislators, wrap in a

year: SC

•

— Welcome Decision. This must be

followed strictly

• •

One cannot write anything about a religion without any basis or evidence to support it.

The question is not about Hinduism but all the religions in general

• •

Saikat Biswas •

Right. We should all provide evidence in writing about a religion almost all of

whose tall claims are made without any regard for evidence or facts.

• •

TN •

Kumar, the writer has dedicated almost 200 pages for footnotes and references.Do you need more to establish the truth?

• •

skywalker •

Liberation to abuse and attack Hinduism only?

• •

Chandrasekhar •

A loud wake up call, Mr Mehta. Alarming how we are being increasingly bowing to fatwas

from communal mobilizers.

• •

Gopi Maliwal •

"Hypocrisy of Liberal India" would be a more apt title.

BTW, why did Mr Mehta single out BJP? That gives away his game.

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