'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.

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

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

Javed Akhtar gets death threat for fatwa remarks

Renowned lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar has received a death threat in the form of an email, reportedly in reaction to his comments against Darul Uloom Deoband's fatwa against working Muslim women.

Akhtar says he doesn't know who sent him the e-mail. He says he received threats via SMS earlier.

"I got different kinds of responses. While on one hand people had reservations about my stance, on the other I was applauded for my comments. You can voice your opinion but can't threaten anyone," Akhtar told IBN7.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai Police has sprung into action, providing him with security. Akhtar is expected to meet the Mumbai Police Commissioner this evening.

Full report here IBN Live

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

Lankan writer arrested for offending Buddhism

In a blatantly anti-democratic move, Sri Lanka police arrested writer Sarah Malini Perera, 38, on March 20 for allegedly offending Buddhism. Perera, who resides in Bahrain and was arrested while on holiday in Sri Lanka, has written two books in vernacular Sinhala detailing her conversion from Buddhism to Islam while working in the Middle East. Her lawyers filed a case on March 30 demanding her immediate release, but she remains in custody.

Lakshan Dias, Perera’s lawyer, told the World Socialist Web Site that the writer was taken into police custody by a special unit of Mirihana police station when she went to a cargo service to ask about shipping copies of her books—From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers—overseas. “I have gone through those two books but there are no harmful things for Buddhism,” the lawyer said.

According to Dias, Perera is being held under Sri Lanka’s draconian emergency laws, with a detention order issued by the defence ministry. Police have not brought her before a court and no specific charges have been laid against her. The continuing state of emergency has been used to detain tens of thousands of young Tamils without trial since the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last May.

Full report here World Socialist Web Site

Mumbai court orders probe into Shroff’s book

Despite an order from the Bombay High Court in his favour, trouble for Murzban Shroff, author of Breathless in Bombay, is far from over as a local court in Mumbai has now directed the city police’s crime branch to investigate if the book promotes communal disharmony.

The city police had lodged a case against Shroff for allegedly inciting communal disharmony by addressing Maharashtrians as ‘Ghaati’ (lowly) in his book.

Shroff had approached the High Court seeking to quash the FIR lodged against him. Justice S. C. Dharmadhikari had observed that Mr. Shroff was just an author and not a trouble maker.

The N. M. Joshi Marg police station had informed the High Court that “they did not find any reason to prosecute the author and there is nothing offensive in the said book.”

Full report here Hindu

No end to persecution of artists

Persecution is older than history. It is probably as old as civilisation. Every period in history is replete with instances of persecution, mainly aimed at hindering free expression of ideas.

In India, artists and authors continue to suffer for giving wings to their expression. M F Husain is the latest to join the long list. Numerous talented Indians have become NRIs but no one attracted as much attention as Husain did after being conferred the honorary citizenship of Qatar.

He symbolises persecution at the hands of a few intolerants and, unfortunately, the governments and courts have done precious little to give a sense of security to this celebrated painter, who has been conferred all three Padma awards and had been once nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Full report here Times of India

Rushdie to write fatwa account

Man Booker-winning author Salman Rushdie is to write a book about the decade he spent under a fatwa issued by the Iranian government.

The author discussed the proposed title at Emory University, where an exhibition of his personal papers including manuscripts, letters and photos, opens on Friday. Rushdie is a lecturer at the Atlanta-based university.

"It's my story, and at some point, it needs to be told," he said, according to the Washington Post. "That point is getting closer, I think. When it was in cardboard boxes and dead computers, it would have been very, very difficult, but now it's all organised."

Full report here Bookseller.com 

Amnesty has no morals, says Rushdie

Controversial Indian-origin author Salman Rushdie has accused Amnesty International of “moral bankruptcy” for working with a former terror suspect from Britain.

Rushdie, whose plight was championed by Amnesty when he was placed under a fatwa by Iran for his novel The Satanic Verses, said the charity had done “incalculable damage” to its reputation by collaborating with Koazzam Begg, an ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate, and his group.

His accusation follows the firing of Gita Sahgal who raised concerns about the group’s links with Begg. “It looks as if Amnesty’s leadership is suffering from moral bankruptcy and has lost the ability to tell right from wrong,” he said.

Full report here Times of India 
Related news
Salman Rushdie: Amnesty International is morally bankrupt Times Online
Rushdie jab at Amnesty for Sahgal suspension Calcutta Telegraph

Saying it as it is

When you’re a writer you can’t fear reprisal, says Pritish Nandy in response to Altaf Tyrewala’s statement that he is scared of speaking the truth in these days of hire-a-hoodlum


My first newspaper article appeared when I was 14. I’ve been writing since. There’s very little I can do apart from writing. I figured this out a long time back. I also figured, around the same time, that I’m not capable of writing like anyone else.So, much of my life has been spent trying to delve into my own mind and writing what I think, feel, believe in.

I agree with Altaf Tyrewala (‘What I really want to write Gives me Nightmares’ Mumbai Mirror, February 18) that this is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, it’s difficult, very difficult and a bit scary. I should know. I’ve had some brushes with danger. Luckily, I have survived them all. Today, looking back on my life as a writer, I often ask myself if the risks were worth taking. Every time, the answer’s the same: Yes.

I began as a poet and the Writers Workshop published my first book of poems when I was 16 or 17. I wouldn’t know because I don’t keep copies of my books. Nostalgia is not what makes me who I am. I write because I cannot but write.

Full report here Pune Mirror

Taslima may get fresh visa

The government does not appear to have closed the option of giving a "fresh" visa to controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen once her existing one expires in August.

Sources in the home ministry said that the government cannot extend her current visa beyond August at this juncture as she would be completing the five-year period — the maximum time one can avail under the existing category. She would, however, be free to apply again after spending a few days in some other country after August 17, they added.

Since visa under this category cannot be extended beyond five years, the writer was accordingly conveyed that she could apply afresh later for the visa under the same category, pending her request for a permanent residency in the country, the sources said.

Full report here Times of India

Related news
Govt yet to take a view on Taslima's plea for permanent stay Press Trust of India

Taslima gets 'last' Indian visa

Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen, forced to flee her homeland by Muslim extremists, said Wednesday that India had told her it will no longer renew her residence visa after the current one expires.

Nasreen, who has been unable to live full-time in India because of opposition from Muslim hardliners in the country, said the Indian government had renewed her temporary six-month residence permit.But 47-year-old author, who has spent the past two years mainly in the United States, said the government told her it was "the last time" the permit would be extended.

"I don't know where I will go if India does not give me shelter," Nasreen told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location in the Indian capital where she was under federal protection.There was no immediate comment from the Indian home ministry.

Full report here  AFP

Related news
Taslima seeks permanent residency as Govt. extends visa  Hindu
Calcutta far for Taslima Telegraph

Books Americans want banned

Khaled Hosseini has joined the illustrious ranks of Philip Pullman and the authors of a story about gay penguins, after his novel The Kite Runner became one of the books that inspired most complaints in America last year, according to Guardian report.

The bestselling and critically acclaimed title, the story of a 12-year-old Afghan and his betrayal of his best friend, includes the rape of a boy, and provoked challenges in the US over what objectors saw as sexual content and offensive language. Some objections led to the removal of the book from library shelves, while others saw it replaced with bowdlerised versions minus the offending scenes, according to the American Library Association, which compiles an annual list of the most challenged titles in the country.

Topping this list in 2008 was, for the third year running, Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell's And Tango Makes Three, a children's book about two male penguins who bring up an orphaned chick. Based on a newspaper story the authors saw about a zookeeper who noticed two of his penguins trying to hatch a stone, the book was criticised for being pro-gay, anti-religion and anti-family.

"Books that address same-sex parenting, or same-sex relationships, are particularly prone to challenges in the US," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the ALA's office for intellectual freedom, which has collected information on challenged books for the last 20 years. "In the case of And Tango Makes Three, there are many parents who believe it inappropriate to teach children anything at all about homosexual relationships, even in the form of a picture book about a true story."

Another stalwart of the ALA's list, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, rose to second place overall in 2008 from fourth the previous year, distressing challengers over its political viewpoint, religious viewpoint and violent scenes. Last year Pullman said his immediate reaction on hearing the news was "glee". "They never learn," he said. "The inevitable result of trying to ban something – book, film, play, pop song, whatever – is that far more people want to get hold of it than would ever have done if it were left alone. Why don't the censors realise this?"

Caldwell-Stone said the film of The Golden Compass, based on the first novel in Pullman's trilogy, had renewed attacks on the sequence from Catholic pressure groups. "In many cases school boards reacted precipitously and removed it – then a few weeks later they returned it to the shelves," she said.

This year, challengers appeared to be focusing their efforts on more recent releases, with Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (which had drawn criticism for racism), Alice Walker's The Color Purple (challenged for sexual content, homosexual content and offensive language) and Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (sexual content) all dropping out of the top 10 after riding high last year.

The ALA recorded 513 challenges in 2008, up from 420 in 2007. The ALA defines a challenge as "a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school, requesting that materials be removed or restricted because of content or appropriateness". It estimates that as few as one in five challenges are actually reported. "We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg," said Caldwell-Stone.

74 books were actually removed from shelves following challenges last year, the ALA said, ranging from Jodi Picoult's bestselling novel My Sister's Keeper, pulled for its sexually explicit content, to Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which includes references to masturbation. Alexie's comments at the time echoed Pullman's, with the author telling local press that "the amazing thing is these banners never understand they are turning this book into a sacred treasure. We don't write to try and be banned, but it is widely known in the [young adult] world, we love this shit."

"While not every book is right for each reader, every reader has the right to choose reading materials for themselves and their families and should be able to find those materials in libraries, classrooms, and bookstores. Our goal is to protect one of our most precious fundamental rights - our freedom to read," said Caldwell-Stone.

The ALA celebrates all banned and challenged books every year with Banned Books Week, founded by Judith Krug, a tireless anti-censorship campaigner who died last week after a long illness, aged 69. Often quoted as saying that "censorship dies in the light of day", Krug was the director of the ALA's office for intellectual freedom and executive director of its Freedom to Read Foundation for more than 40 years.

"Judith had an abiding faith in the power of 'the community of the book' – she was convinced that when librarians, publishers, booksellers, and authors stand together in defence of intellectual freedom we are unstoppable. She believed in our obligation to take on that fight wherever and whenever it arose, and more often than not she led the charge," said Judith Platt, president of the Freedom to Read Foundation. "She considered librarianship to be the highest of callings and there is an entire generation of librarians out there whose commitment to intellectual freedom was forged and shaped by Judith Krug."

The ALA's top ten most frequently challenged books of 2008 in full:
1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: anti-ethnic, anti-family, homosexuality, religious viewpoint, unsuited to age group
2. His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman
Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, violence
3. TTYL; TTFN; L8R, G8R series by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
4. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: occult/satanism, religious viewpoint, violence
5. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Reasons: occult/satanism, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit, violence
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs, homosexuality, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited to age group
7. Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
8. Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen
Reasons: homosexuality, unsuited to age group
9. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group
10. Flashcards of My Life by Charise Mericle Harper
Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group

Founder of Banned Books Week dead

Judith Krug, a director of the Chicago-based American Library Association and a founder of its Banned Books Week, has died, according to an AP report. She was 69.

Judith Platt, president of the ALA's Freedom to Read Foundation, says Krug (KROOG) died late on Saturday at Evanston Hospital in suburban Chicago following a battle with stomach cancer. She says Krug had been ill for more than a year.

She had been head of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom since 1967. Banned Books Weeks has been observed since 1982 during the last week of September. ALA officials say the event celebrates intellectual freedom.
On the Net:http://www.ala.org/bbooks

Taslima's visa extended by six months

Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has got yet another extension of her visa for six months with India indicating that her request for permanent residentship in the country would be taken up only by the new government after general elections.

The author was in India recently in connection with her visa extension. She was, however, told that she should pursue the issue from outside as it was not advisable for her to be in India due to security reasons. Sources in the home ministry said Taslima's visa was extended till August 16.

Though she had applied for resident permit, she was asked to take up the issue after polls. The author had left India after getting her visa extended as it was not advisable for her to stay here, they added. The 46-year-old author was packed off from her Kolkata residence and shifted to Jaipur in November 2007 when some Muslim organisations resorted to state-wide agitation in West Bengal demanding her deportation to Bangladesh.

She had to face protests over her controversial book Dwikhandito (Split in Two). Though the author later removed "objectionable" lines from the book, it failed to soothe the tempers of fundamentalists who even issued threats, forcing her to leave for Jaipur. Later, Rajasthan government too decided to shift her to Delhi after receiving certain inputs of threat to her life.

Currently, Taslima's Bangladeshi passport stands invalid. She holds a European Union passport issued by the Swedish government.