I read disturbing news related to Penguin withdrawing a book on Hinduism (The Hindus: An Alternative History) written by American Indologist Wendy Doniger from India. This action was a result of an out-of-court settlement with some Delhi-based complainants who blamed the book for insulting Hindu traditions and culture. Some people took this matter to court and to avoid all legal hassles and controversies Penguin decided to take this action. Banning any book, movie, play, or even a person for some offensive remarks against some community, religion or God is not a new thing in India, it happened many times in the past and sadly it will happen again. Some books like Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses are still banned in India. In any free, progressive, and truly tolerant society, freedom of speech is very important, and as Salman Rushdie once said freedom of speech has no meaning without the right to offend. Anyone who understands the real meaning behind this statement will also find some sense in this wonderful article written on this subject Kenan Malik, from that article I want to quote one paragraph,
"The notion of giving offence suggests that certain beliefs are so
important or valuable to certain people that they should be put beyond
the possibility of being insulted, or caricatured or even questioned.
The importance of the principle of free speech is precisely that it
provides a permanent challenge to the idea that some questions are
beyond contention, and hence acts as a permanent challenge to authority.
Once we give up on the right to offend in the name of “tolerance” or
“respect,” we constrain our ability to challenge those in power, and
therefore to challenge injustice. The right to “subject each others’
fundamental beliefs to criticism” is, in other words, the bedrock of an
open, diverse, just society."
In the same article, he also says that it's impossible to bring any major social change or reform without offending someone's sentiments and I completely agree with this. Many people want some social reforms but they don't want to start it from their own home just because they don't want to hurt or offend their loved ones. I am sure someone's sentiments must have been hurt when child marriage was opposed, when a girl's right to get educated was advocated by Savitribai Phule, when widow marriage was performed, and when sati tradition was banned, but all these things were necessary to bring much needed social reforms. All those people who participated in these social reform movements experienced fierce opposition from people around them including their own families. They did hurt many people's sentiments but fortunately, their resistance survived and they could bring the desired reforms in society. All these things happened many years ago, but it seems even now our society's mindset in India has not yet changed. We are not yet tolerant of any criticism towards our leaders, Gods, religion, community, traditions, country, or even a political party. Any movie, book, or article criticizing anything related to these subjects immediately gets attacked, boycotted, or banned. Why? Just because some section of society claims that their feelings are hurt. Authors or movie makers face problems and sometimes these protests are very violent, where public and private property is destroyed. This is not a sign of a tolerant or progressive society. This is true when the matter is related to any religion, political party, or caste they all behave in the same way, it seems this is the problem of the entire society and any particular religion or community can not be singled out for this. As a country, India needs to improve its tolerance level towards criticism. I don't say that such things don't happen in other countries. There are more conservative and sectarian societies than India where there is absolutely no freedom of expression at all, but I am not interested in comparing India with them. When we Indians claim to have an open-minded and inclusive culture and a history of tolerating dissent, then this type of behavior contradicts this claim, rather it exposes our extremely narrow-minded and intolerant attitude.
I believe better common sense will prevail in all these matters and Indians will understand the true meaning of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression comes with a certain amount of risk but with a lot of benefits. The benefits outweigh all the risks. In the name of not hurting people's sentiments, we can not curb freedom of expression. People need to understand that with rights also comes responsibility and for every book that offends someone they have the freedom to publish a rebuttal that disproves the offensive material, this is the way to deal with such things, also, banning anything only makes it more popular. I was not even aware of Wendy Doniger's name and her work before reading this news, now I am going to read her book to see what it says about Hinduism and I am sure many came to know about this book only because of this controversy. Also. in the era of internet it's not possible to ban anything from getting distributed once it's available online, this controversy will be the biggest advertisement for this book. To all people who get offended by some book or movie, my simple advice is just don't read them or watch them, banning them or bullying people associated with those creations only displays a timid intolerant mindset.
In the same article, he also says that it's impossible to bring any major social change or reform without offending someone's sentiments and I completely agree with this. Many people want some social reforms but they don't want to start it from their own home just because they don't want to hurt or offend their loved ones. I am sure someone's sentiments must have been hurt when child marriage was opposed, when a girl's right to get educated was advocated by Savitribai Phule, when widow marriage was performed, and when sati tradition was banned, but all these things were necessary to bring much needed social reforms. All those people who participated in these social reform movements experienced fierce opposition from people around them including their own families. They did hurt many people's sentiments but fortunately, their resistance survived and they could bring the desired reforms in society. All these things happened many years ago, but it seems even now our society's mindset in India has not yet changed. We are not yet tolerant of any criticism towards our leaders, Gods, religion, community, traditions, country, or even a political party. Any movie, book, or article criticizing anything related to these subjects immediately gets attacked, boycotted, or banned. Why? Just because some section of society claims that their feelings are hurt. Authors or movie makers face problems and sometimes these protests are very violent, where public and private property is destroyed. This is not a sign of a tolerant or progressive society. This is true when the matter is related to any religion, political party, or caste they all behave in the same way, it seems this is the problem of the entire society and any particular religion or community can not be singled out for this. As a country, India needs to improve its tolerance level towards criticism. I don't say that such things don't happen in other countries. There are more conservative and sectarian societies than India where there is absolutely no freedom of expression at all, but I am not interested in comparing India with them. When we Indians claim to have an open-minded and inclusive culture and a history of tolerating dissent, then this type of behavior contradicts this claim, rather it exposes our extremely narrow-minded and intolerant attitude.
I believe better common sense will prevail in all these matters and Indians will understand the true meaning of freedom of expression. Freedom of expression comes with a certain amount of risk but with a lot of benefits. The benefits outweigh all the risks. In the name of not hurting people's sentiments, we can not curb freedom of expression. People need to understand that with rights also comes responsibility and for every book that offends someone they have the freedom to publish a rebuttal that disproves the offensive material, this is the way to deal with such things, also, banning anything only makes it more popular. I was not even aware of Wendy Doniger's name and her work before reading this news, now I am going to read her book to see what it says about Hinduism and I am sure many came to know about this book only because of this controversy. Also. in the era of internet it's not possible to ban anything from getting distributed once it's available online, this controversy will be the biggest advertisement for this book. To all people who get offended by some book or movie, my simple advice is just don't read them or watch them, banning them or bullying people associated with those creations only displays a timid intolerant mindset.
Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic.
[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]
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