Books banned in India

Though India is a democratic nation, the suppression in India mainly targets religious issues. The Constitution of India assures freedom of expression but places certain restrictions on substance, with an outlook towards maintaining communal and religious harmony, given the narration of communal tension in the nation.

Listed below are a few books that created a "topsy-turvy" situation in India which led to ban against these books.

Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses"
India has uncertain respect of being the initial country in the world to ban the Indian-born novelist's divisive work "The Satanic Verses". The novel written by Salman Rushdie had subsequent protest from dominant Muslim leaders. The novel was banned in India in 1988, and fatwa was imposed on Rushdie by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini on February 14, 1989, for demeaning Islam. Rushdie had to spend almost a decade in hindrance. Though Iran has held its government will not carry out the fatwa's death-sentence dictate, the book remains banned in India.

Full report here Siliconindia

No anthem for mobile ringtone

Bangladesh's high court on August 5 banned the use of the national anthem as ringtones for mobile phone ring tones or for any other commercial purpose.

'National anthem can't be used as a business tool,' the court said in its ruling, following a petition filed by a lawyer. The high court also fined the three top mobile phone operators 500,000 taka (S$9550) each for using national anthem for business purposes.

The national anthem, Amar Shonar Bangla or My Golden Bengal, is based on the first 10 lines of a 1905 song written by Rabindranath Tagore, the first Asian to win the literature Nobel Prize. The song was adopted as the anthem in 1972.

Full report here Straits Times

'Bankrupt caste politics led to ban on Shivaji book'

Bookshops are afraid to stock James Laine's Shivaj i: Hindu King in Islamic India, even after the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra government's ban on it. Film-maker Anand Patwardhan, one of three petitioners who challenged the ban, speaks to Jyoti Punwani :

What prompted you to challenge the ban? 
Ambedkar gave us a Constitution. It is up to us to protect its spirit. Whether it is Ambedkar's Riddles in Hinduism or works by Taslima Nasreen, we must not allow bullies to dictate what we read. I would oppose a ban even on books i abhor, like those by Golwalkar and Godse. The real inspiration and the legal hard work, however, came from human rights lawyer P A Sebastian. We have won many court battles against the censorship of my documentaries. In each case, the courts upheld my right to freedom of expression and the public's right to information. Naturally when we heard about a book banned under pressure from right-wing groups, we intervened.

Shivaji is revered in Maharashtra. Didn't you anticipate an adverse reaction? 
Bankrupt caste politics led to the ban. An academic book on Shivaji would have remained largely unnoticed. But our politicians have many economic crimes to hide and identity politics is a convenient public diversion. An emotive rumour that Laine had questioned Shivaji's paternity spread, since no one had actually read the book. A research institute was attacked, historical manuscripts destroyed, then the publishers were attacked and books burned. The government, dominated by the same caste forces that rampaged in the street, banned the book.

Maharashtra is right tosquash 'Shivaji'

The recent judgement of Supreme Court to end a ban on James Laine’s book on Shivaji has received belligerent reactions from political parties in Maharashtra, ruling party and opposition alike. The Maharashtra government banned the book in 2004 following an attack on the Bhandarkar Institute of Oriental Research where the author conducted his research for the book.

In Maharashtra, Shivaji is the symbol of Maratha pride and has a similar status as George Washington has in the U.S. or Subhash Chandra Bose has in Bengal. A number of major establishments in the state - airport, railway station, roads, schools, colleges — have either been named after him or were rechristened with his name. Owing to this revered position, any remarks which diverge from the age-old opinions about his life are deemed sacrilegious.

Full report here WSJ blogs

Shrinking Heroes

Once again we have a display of the insecurities of the Maratha people. Even after having their own state for fifty years, the leaders of the Marathi speaking people are out agitating against one page of a book written by a foreign scholar on their hero Shivaji.

On a previous occasion too, these agitators had already destroyed a jewel of Maharashtrian, indeed, Indian scholarship when they burned down the Bhandarkar Institute’s Library in Pune. This sort of self abuse continues. Now, even the Congress has joined in the demands that despite the Supreme Court judgment, the book be not sold in Maharashtra. The idea that the Constitution guarantees the right of free speech and within that, access to books which are not banned, is beyond the intelligence of Congress chief ministers nowadays. What matters are vote banks and knee-jerk populism.

Full report here Indian Express 

Bangladesh removes Islamic author's books from libraries

The Bangladesh government has ordered tens of thousands of mosques and libraries to remove books written by the controversial founder of an Islamic party, an official said Saturday.

The state-run Islamic Foundation took the decision after Syed Abul Ala Maududi's books were deemed "anti-Islamic" and likely to foster militancy in the Indian subcontinent, its head Shamim Mohammad Afjal told AFP.
Maududi is the founder of Jamaat-e-Islami party, which has a large number of followers in South Asia -- home to around 450 million Muslims.

The Jamaat is the largest Islamic party in Bangladesh, with two elected lawmakers in the parliament. "We have taken the decision to withdraw books written by Maududi from all of the state-funded 24,000 libraries attached to mosques," Afjal said.

Full report here AFP

Bangladesh bans books by radical Islamic author

The Bangladeshi government has ordered mosques and libraries across the country to remove all books written by a controversial Islamic scholar.

The chief of the government-funded Islamic Foundation told the BBC that the books by Syed Abul Ala Maududi encouraged "militancy and terrorism".

Mr Maududi - who died in 1979 - is the founder of the Jamaat-e-Islami party. His works are essential reading for supporters of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in the region. Born in India, the Pakistani scholar is considered the most prominent theorist of radical Islam in modern South Asian history.

But Bangladeshi officials say Mr Maududi's writings promote radicalism and his ideological goal was to capture power in the name of Islam.

Full report here BBC

The freedom to explore - Imagining Shivaji

It was in 2003-2004 that a minor academic work by the scholar James Laine set off a fierce, orchestrated campaign of political protests that led to the state-banning of a book, threats to the author and other Shivaji scholars, and ransacking of the BORI library in Pune by members of the then little-known Sambhaji Brigade.

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court judgment overturning the ban on Laine’s Shivaji, two things are very clear. The first is that the Shivaji case is no longer about free speech, but about complex political reactions. And the second is that the Shivaji case goes beyond just free speech and free expression; at the heart of Laine’s continuing travails is the question of what we’re free to think and explore in contemporary India.

The Supreme Court judgment turns on an apparently minor point: can an Act (Section 153A) that invokes the possibility of censorship in cases where religious sentiments may be hurt apply to a great historical figure who is, however, neither a prophet nor a God? The Maharashtra government was forced to admit that Shivaji, however great a Maratha hero he might be, is not a religious figure, and the state ban on the publication of Laine’s Shivaji was overturned on this technicality.

Full report here Business Standard

Govt promises new law to counter SC verdict

The Maharashtra government announced on the first day of the assembly’s monsoon session, Monday, that it will introduce a law by the next session to prevent literature defaming public figures from being published.

The decision has been taken in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s verdict lifting the ban on the controversial book, ‘Shivaji: A Hindu King in Islamic India’, by US-based author James Laine. The legislative assembly also passed a resolution condemning Laine for his derogatory remarks against the Maratha emperor and his mother Jijabai.

The opposition brought an adjournment motion in both the houses over Laine’s book. In the ensuing discussion, home minister RR Patil said that the government will amend the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to ban defamatory literature. “Section 153 (a) of the CrPC deals with the act of spreading hatred among religions and communities, but the new amendment will enable the government to deal with indecent and scurrilous literature, and will entail stern punishment. The government wants to undertake the amendment on the lines of an existing law in Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Full report here DNA

Of books, court cases and fatwas

The decision of the Supreme Court to lift the Maharashtra government's ban on James Laine's 2004 book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, throws up some interesting points.

First and foremost should books be banned in this day and age?The newspaper Mint has a rather interesting editorial on it. (You can read it here). The basic point the edit makes is banning books in this day and age does not work.

"The reason such bans do not work is because the nature of the books business has changed. Paper isn't the only medium through which ideas or stories can now be communicated. Many of them can be communicated through digital media. And while piracy (just to clarify, this newspaper is against it) prevents the creators of content from being rewarded for their efforts, it ensures that books and movies that aren't meant to be available in a particular region are-freely," the edit says.

A good case in point is Hamish McDonald's biography of Dhirubhai Ambani The Polyester Prince. The book is banned in India, but is freely available in the pirated form at most traffic signals across metropolitan India. It can also be downloaded freely from the web.

Full report here DNA

Banning books doesn’t work

In an age of digital media and rampant piracy, efforts to keep books away from readers are increasingly meaningless, even counterproductive

This newspaper doesn’t quite like the idea of anybody having the power to ban a book, but isn’t unduly worried that such attempts (and more on these anon) will stop the spread of thoughts, stories or ideas.

Depending on geography, history and background, the list of subjects considered “sacred” in the country include the extended Gandhi family, Ambedkar, Periyar, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rabindranath Tagore, Veer Savarkar and maybe a few thousand more people, some alive, some dead. James Laine’s book has met with opposition in Maharashtra because it is about Shivaji, the Maratha king many people in the state—at least those making a living from politics—hold dear.

The reason such bans do not work is because the nature of the books business has changed. Paper isn’t the only medium through which ideas or stories can now be communicated. Many of them can be communicated through digital media. And while piracy (just to clarify, this newspaper is against it) prevents the creators of content from being rewarded for their efforts, it ensures that books and movies that aren’t meant to be available in a particular region are—freely.

Full report here Mint

Writers welcome SC judgment on Shivaji book

Friday’s Supreme Court judgment lifting the ban on James Laine’s controversial book Shivaji - Hindu King in Islamic India has received mixed reactions. While most have welcomed the lifting of the ban, some feel that the author should have shown restraint in publishing controversial material that was not backed by documentary evidence.

Sharada Dwivedi, a Mumbai-based historian and researcher, said she was delighted that the ban on the book had been lifted. "Shivaji was undoubtedly a great man who was highly revered, but we live in a democracy and people should have the freedom of speech," she said. Dwivedi referred to the despicable attack on Pune’s Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in 2004 by a politically motivated group, the Sambhaji Brigade, who vandalised the premises merely because the author had conducted his research for the book there. "It was unforgivable," she said. "They were protecting the reputation of someone who has been gone for centuries, but in the process destroyed something that could have been a treasure trove for future generations."

Writer Chetan Bhagat said he was against the very of idea books being banned. "To ban or not to ban a book becomes a very subjective choice. If a book has hurt sentiments or is offensive, people can condemn it, ignore it or ask for an apology, but banning a book shows high-handedness. We should not turn into a society that doesn’t allow voices of dissent," said Bhagat, adding, "If the book hurt sentiments, the author should apologise. Like in the case of a recently published article in Time magazine by Joel Stein that offended Indian sensibilities. Ultimately, they published an apology."

Full report here Times of India

Ban lifted, but bookstores want to wait and watch

Those waiting to buy a copy of American author James W Laine's controversial book Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India may have to wait longer. The Supreme Court on Friday, July 9 upheld the Bombay High Court's decision lifting the ban on the book but following threats from political parties because of allegedly derogatory remarks about the Maratha king in the book, bookstores are ing it safe.

"We have to see how the situation improves. Only depending on that we will stock it in our store," said the manager of one of the city's most popular bookstores.

"The high court lifted the ban two years ago but publishers were not printing the book. Now, the SC has lifted the ban. If publishers print it, we would definitely like to supply it to readers."

He said if the state government prohibits the sale of the book, bookstores will have to comply. Bookstores are also afraid of attacks from the Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena who have threatened to burn copies of the book and warned bookstores against selling it.

Furore over Shivaji book grows

A day after the Supreme Court lifted the ban, opposition to James Laine's controversial book Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India gathered momentum with political outfits of many hues demanding a complete ban.

While protests by right-wing Hindutva organisations like Sambhaji Brigade and Shivrajya Paksha that deify the Maratha warrior king is expected, many have been surprised by the number of Muslim organisations which have come together to protest the apex court's ruling.

All India Ulema Council General Secretary Maulana Mahmood Daryabadi said this support was in keeping with the tenets of Islam. "Islam says that we should support any effort which prevents the spread of hate in society.

The Koran is against disrespecting religious or social figures of other communities. This is why we are opposed to lifting the ban on Laine's book," he said.

Full report here Mumbai Mirror

Related news
Writers welcome SC judgment on Shivaji book Times of India

Laine’s book on Shivaji okay: SC

 In a blow to political censorship, the Supreme Court on Friday, July 9, rejected a plea by the state government to ban US author James Laine’s book on Chhatrapati Shivaji.

The apex court has upheld a 2007 Bombay high court decision allowing publication and circulation of the book, Shivaji -The Hindu King in Muslim India, in Maharashtra. Strangely enough, the state government had challenged the Bombay high court order almost two years after the ban was lifted.

It is far from clear if the book can actually be sold in the state, given the kind of jingoism over this issue. Maharashtra’s home minister R R Patil, said on Friday that the government was still in favour of the ban and would seek legal opinion on how it could be continued.

“I personally and the state government also feel that the ban should continue. We are seeking opinion of legal experts on approaching the court to ensure the ban continues,” Mr Patil said.

Full report here Economic Times


Related news
SC upholds Bombay HC verdict lifting ban on book on Shivaji Hindustan Times

Govt bans book that says Nehru-Gandhis family of ‘half-castes’

The Centre has banned a book that says the Nehru-Gandhis are a family of “half-castes” intent on destroying the country.

The Union Home Ministry in March ordered an immediate stop to the publication and sale of Nehru Gandhi Parivar: Secular ya Varnasankar (Nehru-Gandhi Family: Secular or Half-Castes), saying the allegations against the family in the book were malicious and insidious, and unsupported by documented facts.

It said that statements in the book against Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were defamatory and scandalous, and intended to disrupt communal harmony.

The book, which has chapters on Sonia Gandhi and on the ‘business dealings’ of Rahul Gandhi, is a Hindi translation of a collection of articles in English posted on the Internet. Though the book has been banned, these web posts can still be accessed on the Internet.

Full report here Indian Express

Tolerance level has gone down, High Court rues

 The tolerance level of the people has gone down, the Bombay High Court  on April 20 remarked while dealing with a petition filed by an author who is facing criminal case for using the term 'Ghati'.

Marzban Shroff, the author of story-collection Breathless In Bombay, is facing a criminal case for using
the word 'Ghati' in one of the stories in the book. The word is used in Mumbai for referring to Maharashtrians, in a slightly derogatory sense.However, Shroff, who is seeking quashing of the criminal
complaint, maintains that he never meant to insult any community, and the word has been used in the fictional
dialogue.

Justice V M Kanade, himself a Maharashtrian, seemed to agree with the author. "Ghati is common slang word. For every community there are such words," the judge observed."There are many such words for Parsis, but they don't mind it. The unfortunate part is that our tolerance level has gone down," Justice Kanade said.

Criminal complaint against Shroff was filed by one Vijay Murdas, an activist. Earlier, police had informed the High Court that they had closed the case.

Full report here PTI

PREPAK imposes ban on book

The proscribed Peoples Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak has imposed blanket ban on Keisham Birchand`s newly released book `Manipur Kangleipak kouremde, Kangla konna leirakkhi`.

The outfit also imposed ban sale of a book written by Bengali writer Subalchandra Mitra Saral Bangla Abhidhan - an Encyclopaedia of the Bengali literature` to which the Manipuri writer took reference in preparing his book.

Announcing this during a press conference held somewhere in Imphal East district today, Lt Ningtamba, commander Imphal West district told media that Birchand`s book is a piece of Indianisation process that has been taking place in Manipur.

While asserting that Manipur has its own distinct identity and culture, the PREPAK leader said the outfit would never allow sale or distribution of books in Manipur which could enhance Indianisation.

Full report here Kanglaonline

Rushdie to pen his life after fatwa

Living in the shadow of fatwa is decidedly unpleasant, but the story promises to make for a riveting read.

Acclaimed author Salman Rushdie is now contemplating a book that could be one of the most anticipated story of the future: The story of his life with a price on his head for 'blasphemy', following the publication of his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, in 1988.

Speaking to Mail Today on the sidelines of the India Today Conclave 2010, Rushdie said: "I now have the time and stillness when I can think of my next book, a memoir." This, he said, would "answer questions everyone always asks me". Rushdie has just finished penning the screenplay of Deepa Mehta's Midnight's Children and his next book, Luka and The Fire of Life, a companion volume to Haroun and the Sea of Stories. His memoir, he said, will not be a traditional autobiography featuring scenes from his childhood. "I will cover the 10-12 year period from the publication of The Satanic Verses and the issues it raised personally and publicly. I think it's an interesting story and it is my story to tell," he said.

What'll make this book truly sensational is that, as the Booker of Bookers-winning writer pointed out, "90 per cent" of what happened in his life under the fatwa, which was issued by the Iranian religious despot, Ayatollah Khomenei, is "not in the public domain." Given that Rushdie has consistently been the most talked- about writer (no other writer, for instance, has been featured as much in India Today as he), the memoir promises to be a revelation.

Full report here India Today

Taslima denies writing article behind Muslim riots

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen said on Tuesday, March 2 that her work had been "misused" by an Indian newspaper after an article purportedly from her sparked protests by Muslims that left two dead.

On Sunday a local Kannada-language newspaper in Karnataka published an article allegedly from the exiled author, who has provoked hardline Muslims before, in which she argued against the burqa. Police imposed a curfew Tuesday in Shimoga, 270 kilometres west of state capital Bangalore, after two people were killed in protests that saw hundreds of Muslims take to the streets.

One person was shot dead by police on Monday, while another was killed in clashes that broke out. Fifteen people were injured and 50 arrested, police said. "The appearance of the article is atrocious," Nasreen said in a statement sent to local news agency PTI. "In any of my writings I have never mentioned that Prophet Mohammed was against the burqa.

She denied ever having written for the newspaper, adding: "I suspect that it is a deliberate attempt to malign me and to misuse my writings to create disturbance in the society. I wish peace will prevail."

Full report here AFP

Related news

Two Bangalore dailies booked for Taslima writings SINDH TODAY
Tension grips Karnataka towns over Taslima article IBNLive
Two killed in Shimoga over Taslima Nasreen article, curfew clamped Hindustan Times
Mangalore: Poojary Demands Withdrawal of Asylum Granted to Taslima Nasreen Daijiworld.com
Taslima Nasreen article creates violence in Karnataka Oneindia