12/07/2010
The Supreme Court has finally scotched the ban against American historian James Laine, whose book on Shivaji had enraged Maharashtra's Sambhaji brigade enough to run riot through the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in 2004, destroying rare manuscripts and harassing scholars. The then Congress/NCP-led administration cravenly gave in to their bullying, slapping a ban on the book. Political parties across the spectrum vied with each other to speak for the uninformed hoodlums rather than for scholarship and free inquiry. And institution after institution acquiesced in this unofficial censorship, until even the Supreme Court gently suggested to Laine that he simply excise the offending bits and ponder "how the interests of justice would be best served."
Now, as the ban is lifted, the old hatreds have come rushing back -- the Sambhaji brigade has howled betrayal and threatened that if the government does not take action by August 15, "we will take action in our style." The MNS promised that it would burn every available copy and see how anyone managed to sell the book. Home minister R.R. Patil, speaking for the Congress-NCP government, said their opposition remained undiluted, and even the Samajwadi party presented the decision as a great insult to Maharashtra's moral fabric. Nor has the BJP emerged unscathed; it has hardly made an effort to rein in its ally, the Shiv Sena.
As it happens, the James Laine case has indeed become a litmus test for the state. The court's lifting of the ban has taken Maharashtra full circle, back where it all began -- the threats of vigilante justice, the deep and dangerous illiteracy (the book is an excavation of the Shivaji myth, not an authorised biography), and political rhetoric that ratchets up the anger instead of addressing it with a larger vision.
What happens next will reveal whether Maharashtra, long disfigured by its politics of violent resentment, can ever hope for better. Why must the agenda for its mainstream politics continually be set by the state's most obscurantist, hyper-nationalist fringe? When it comes to protecting an intellectual endeavour that has now been vetted by the court, will the state finally have the spine to stand up to the various Senas that menace it?
Source: The Indian Express
K.Venugopal
#1
Monday, 12 July 2010 14:50:48
If there is any book that calls for banning, this is the book. How can any writer, even under the guise of scholastics, question the parentage of a person? Can a writer do it simply on hearsay even if such hearsay was quoted by earlier writers? This is undoubtedly an attempt to tarnish the image of Shivaji, which is in keeping with the general trend to defame Hindu icons and I am surprised that the Supreme Court thought otherwise. The Government must file a review petition.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4143152&pgnew=true&_p=ec1da23c-9f81-46f4-b195-b712885a2e0f&_nwpt=1#uc2Lstec1da23c-9f81-46f4-b195-b712885a2e0f
The Supreme Court has finally scotched the ban against American historian James Laine, whose book on Shivaji had enraged Maharashtra's Sambhaji brigade enough to run riot through the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in 2004, destroying rare manuscripts and harassing scholars. The then Congress/NCP-led administration cravenly gave in to their bullying, slapping a ban on the book. Political parties across the spectrum vied with each other to speak for the uninformed hoodlums rather than for scholarship and free inquiry. And institution after institution acquiesced in this unofficial censorship, until even the Supreme Court gently suggested to Laine that he simply excise the offending bits and ponder "how the interests of justice would be best served."
Now, as the ban is lifted, the old hatreds have come rushing back -- the Sambhaji brigade has howled betrayal and threatened that if the government does not take action by August 15, "we will take action in our style." The MNS promised that it would burn every available copy and see how anyone managed to sell the book. Home minister R.R. Patil, speaking for the Congress-NCP government, said their opposition remained undiluted, and even the Samajwadi party presented the decision as a great insult to Maharashtra's moral fabric. Nor has the BJP emerged unscathed; it has hardly made an effort to rein in its ally, the Shiv Sena.
As it happens, the James Laine case has indeed become a litmus test for the state. The court's lifting of the ban has taken Maharashtra full circle, back where it all began -- the threats of vigilante justice, the deep and dangerous illiteracy (the book is an excavation of the Shivaji myth, not an authorised biography), and political rhetoric that ratchets up the anger instead of addressing it with a larger vision.
What happens next will reveal whether Maharashtra, long disfigured by its politics of violent resentment, can ever hope for better. Why must the agenda for its mainstream politics continually be set by the state's most obscurantist, hyper-nationalist fringe? When it comes to protecting an intellectual endeavour that has now been vetted by the court, will the state finally have the spine to stand up to the various Senas that menace it?
Source: The Indian Express
K.Venugopal
#1
Monday, 12 July 2010 14:50:48
If there is any book that calls for banning, this is the book. How can any writer, even under the guise of scholastics, question the parentage of a person? Can a writer do it simply on hearsay even if such hearsay was quoted by earlier writers? This is undoubtedly an attempt to tarnish the image of Shivaji, which is in keeping with the general trend to defame Hindu icons and I am surprised that the Supreme Court thought otherwise. The Government must file a review petition.
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4143152&pgnew=true&_p=ec1da23c-9f81-46f4-b195-b712885a2e0f&_nwpt=1#uc2Lstec1da23c-9f81-46f4-b195-b712885a2e0f
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