Our
fraudulent Left-liberals, who dominate the commentariat and academic
institutions, poisoning impressionable minds, are out in full force, doing what
they do best: Maligning Hindus by propagating falsehood. They have seized upon
Penguin Books India’s decision to withdraw and pulp a book, ‘The Hindus: An
Alternative History’, authored by Wendy Doniger who is on the faculty of the
Divinity School at Chicago University, to accuse “Hindu nationalists”, “fringe
fundamentalists”, “Hindutvawadis” of enforcing ‘censorship’. This fiction is
being repeated, again and again, in keeping with Goebbels’s dictum of repeating
a lie till in the popular perception it begins to appear as the truth.
Here are
the facts. Wendy Doniger’s book was published in India by Penguin five years
ago. It met with a hostile reception and its contents were contested by several
writers well-versed with Hindu texts and Sanskrit. Even the most casual reading
of the book would show that the ‘alternative history’ that Wendy Doniger
peddles is so much bunk and no more. For
all her scholarship, her interpretation of text and tradition, her
understanding of the finer nuances of Sanskrit, come across as amazing shallow
in this book.
Critics
of ‘The Hindus: An Alternative History’ have argued, and not without reason,
that the book was crafted to intentionally pour scorn on Hinduism; to titillate
those who feel it is obligatory, either for reasons of ideology or faith if not
both, to denigrate Hinduism; to use the papier mâché mask of scholarship to
mock at Hindus for worshipping gods and goddesses who are portrayed as high on
Viagra.
Hinduism
does not abnegate the recreational pleasures of sexual intercourse – an entire
chapter, The Anodyne, in Nirad C Chaudhuri’s celebrated treatise, ‘The
Continent of Circe’, elaborates this point. Nirad babu drew upon a vast body of
Sanskrit text, both religious and secular. But whereas it is a pleasure to read
Nirad babu’s exposition, and a joy to read the texts he refers to even in
translation, crudity and misinterpretation makes Wendy Doniger’s “alternative
history” odious.
It could
be entirely coincidental, but what Wendy Doniger has to say about Hindus and
Hinduism bears remarkable similarity with the salacious, slanderous contents of
lesser pamphlets used by pastors sponsored by foreign evangelists who run a
multi-billion-dollar trans-national business of harvesting souls. For evidence,
compare Wendy Doniger’s slickly produced ‘The Hindus’ with Pastor MG Matthew’s
shabbily printed ‘Haqeeqat’. I would desist from quoting either of the authors
because that would amount to giving undue publicity to scurrilous comments
aimed at demeaning Hindus and defaming their faith. The similarity does not necessarily suggest a
larger conspiracy, not the least because Wendy Doniger, I am told, is not a
Bible-thumping Christian but a secular Jew.
A year after
the book’s publication in India, Dinanath Batra, representing an organisation
called Shiksha Bachao Andolan, filed a case against Penguin Books India and
Wendy Doniger, demanding that the book be withdrawn from circulation. The
petition extensively cited flaws in the book and explained why these were
unacceptable. In brief, someone offended by the book exercised his right to
seek legal remedy. On February 4, Penguin Books India, instead of contesting
the petition and fighting it out in the courts of law to uphold the author’s
right to free speech, decided to cut its losses and pulp the book.
It would
be in order to mention that Penguin Books India has in the past elected to dump
another author without even so much as a murmur of protest. Khushwant Singh,
who was an adviser to Penguin Books India those days, was the first to propose
that Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ should be dropped and went on to
urge Rajiv Gandhi that it should be banned. Rajiv Gandhi did ban ‘The Satanic
Verses’, making India the first country to proscribe it. Penguin Books India
never contested that decision. Instead, it meekly recalled and pulped all
unsold copies.
Some 30
years ago Sunanda K Datta-Ray’s ‘Smash & Grab: The Annexation of Sikkim’,
perhaps the only book on one of the most important chapters of post-1947
history, was withdrawn and pulped by Vikas Publishing, the biggest publisher of
the times. Vikas did so to settle a case filed by India’s last representative
to Gangtok who had been uncharitably portrayed in ‘Smash & Grab’.
Publishers in India are not known to fight legal battles to a bitter finish.
If our
Left-liberals are truly upset, they should direct their ire at Penguin Books India
for letting down Wendy Doniger and her book. They won’t do that because it
would mean castigating ‘people like us’. It would also mean burning bridges
with Penguin Books India which they are loath to do for reasons that are not limited
to India’s premiere publishing firm. Yet our Left-liberals need to be seen as
angry and outraged. So they viciously turn on “Hindu nationalists”, “fringe
fundamentalists”, “Hindutvawadis”, their fangs bared in hatred.
Some
years ago when a callow student of fine arts at MS University in Baroda ran
into trouble over two paintings, one allegedly depicting Jesus on the Cross and
the other Durga, there was a similar attempt to malign Hindus. Conveniently
glossed over was the fact that the protest was led not by Hindus but Christians
horrified by what they perceived to be a sacrilegious portrayal of Jesus.
We didn’t
hear a pipsqueak from our Left-liberals when the Church was asked to clear the
film ‘The Da Vinci Code’, whose screening was proscribed in several
Congress-ruled States. There are several instances of Left-liberals slyly
acquiescing to censorship by the Congress which has over the decades banned and
proscribed scores of books, journals and films.
Our
Left-liberals forget, ever so conveniently, that book-banning would not have
been an issue in this country but for Jawaharlal Nehru introducing the first
amendment to the Constitution. In India, the first amendment curbed freedom of
speech. In the US, the first amendment enshrined freedom of speech as
non-negotiable. If intolerance towards inconvenient views and obnoxious
opinions exists in this country, it stems from that original sin. Let us also
never forget that our Left-liberals are the most bigoted and intolerant of all.
Banning,
burning and pulping books are not welcome options. But neither is it welcome
that authors who wear a halo of ‘academic scholarship’ abuse their position and
perch to defame a community and its faith. And definitely the carping of the
spurious Left-liberals is unacceptable.
(Photo
courtesy lokvani.com)
