As I flipped through the pages of Times of India, last Monday, its op-ed caught my attention. “Saving Hinduism from its saviors” screamed the title in bold fonts. Written by Kiran Nagarkar, eminent Marathi author and playwright, it is about withdrawal and pulping of Wendy Doniger’s book on Hindu history. I was not surprised that Nagarkar, whose own book disrespecting Mahabharata was banned for 17 years, took up the cudgels for Wendy Doniger. What surprised me however was his refusal to acknowledge or appreciate petitioner Dinanath Batra’s point of view and his single-minded rant against “Hindutva forces” trying to muzzle freedom of speech and alluding to persecution of the withdrawn book’s author.
Ever since the Feb 2014 out of court settlement between Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti (SBAS) an organization headed by Dinanath Batra and Penguin (Aleph) to withdraw and pulp Wendy Doniger’s book “The Hindus – an alternative history” there has been a frenzy of high decibel criticism and protests in print & electronic media against the withdrawal and some of the biggest and most well known personalities in the academic and literary world have come out defending Wendy Doniger’s right to interpret Hindu history. Many of these have written articles and appeared on “manufactured” TV debates (at times sounding more like charlatans rather that historians or academicians) and lamented curbs on freedom of speech and even unabashedly abused “intolerant Hindutva movement”. Sample this:
- Arundhati Roy wrote in Outlook (Feb 13 issue): The fascists are, thus far, only campaigning… but they are not in power. Not yet. And you’ve already succumbed?
- Ramchandra Guha wrote : “It is a sad commentary on the state of our nation, that a bunch of narrow-minded bigots (claiming to speak in the name of ‘Hinduism’)….”
- Romila Thapar sarcastically commented: “… One can visualise a future when challenging books having been withdrawn and pulped, we will be left with reading only the telephone directories of days gone by…”
- Ram Puniyai wrote in FB: “The ‘out of court settlement’ reached by Penguin to pulp its stock of ‘The Hindus-an alternative History’ is a very condemnable move…”
- Kiran Nagarkar writing in the above mentioned column says: “Penguin, Aleph and Rupa seem unaware of the implications of the times in which we live. Coronation of Modi is round the corner….” and goes on with his diatribe against Modi and RSS.
Media too joined the chorus that followed the withdrawal of the book with provocative captions like “Sway of Taliban style forces in India” and another national daily calling Batra’s SBAS “an extremist outfit”. The smug, condescending and Know-it-all Indian intellectual refused (or unwilling) to debate this, perhaps fearing that his/her own diatribe will fall apart on closer scrutiny. None of them acknowledged that Wendy Doniger’s book was littered with 100s of factual inaccuracies, misrepresentations, errors and trivialisations. But, overawed by the exalted position of Wendy Doniger in academia, most of the academicians/Historians and literary giants turned a blind eye to all such inaccuracies. And, yet, someone like Suketu Mehta,speaking at Indian Consulate in New York said “…people who want Doniger’s book banned and pulped are cowards, afraid of thoughts from all sides…Free speech is under tremendous threat in India” (As reported in Firstpost Mar 27,2014). Why did Mr. Mehta not raise “free speech under threat” bogey when Javier Moro’s The Red Sari (a book that chronicles Sonia Gandhi’s life) was banned at the behest of Congress party? Dinanath Batra did not resort to street protests and vandalism to make himself heard. He studied the contents of the book, carefully prepared his case under existing laws of the land, pursued due process of law in true democratic fashion that provided opportunity to the publisher to defend itself and won. But, our “Whitewashed” intellectuals refused to take seriously the cries of Hindus hurt by an acclaimed writer vilifying Hindu icons.
An intellectual is a person who uses thought and analytical reasoning rather than emotions for dissemination of ideas. Do Indian intellectuals live up to this definition? Educated in Missionary schools, these Macaulay’s children are skeptical, if not downright negative towards Hindu spirituality with solemn airs of scholarship and superior knowledge. They also have a positive, if not worshipful, attitude towards everything Western. Many of these are self-alienated Hindus who have turned their back towards Hindu culture and have scant respect for spiritual traditions. This, to a large extent explains why Indian intellectuals do not show outrage when Jeffry Kripal in his book Kali’s Child terms Ramakrishna Paramhans a pedophile and calls Swami Vivekananda a homosexual. Is that also why our well known intellectuals are apathetic when Paul Courtright in his book Ganesha gives colourful account of incestuous relationship between Daksha and his daughter Sati? Our intellectuals do not find any contradiction in their attitude, when they insist on Modi taking moral responsibility for 2002 riots and apologizing to Muslim community, but confine their outrage to M F Hussein’s right to paint and do not see anything wrong if Hussein paints nude pictures of Hindu deities and hurts sentiments of millions of Hindus.
When Hindus in an independent India, after hundreds of years of alien subjugation, want Vande Mataram to be declared mandatory prayer in schools, our intellectuals call it “reassertion of Hindutva forces”, but when Muslims want separate personal laws it is “cry of the oppressed”! While Girish karnad and U R Ananthmurthy are well known author & playwright and frequently in news (mostly for their anti-Modi utterances), S L Bhyrappa and Shriram Goel are rarely discussed in media and literary circles. When US based Rajiv Malhotra, a highly respected scholar who is waging a valiant battle against Wendy Doniger, comes to India, our media ignores him and our intellectuals refuse to debate with him the inaccuracies in Wendy Doniger’s book.
India has a rich history and tradition of intellectual discourse. But, sadly after independence in the wake of ‘Nehruvian Secularism’ Hindu intellectualism is on the decline. Increasing influence of West and left-liberalism will make sure Hindu intellectualism dies an early demise unless large Hindu organisations like RSS and Hindu religious centers with ample resources promote these traditions. In particular, RSS must move away from interfering in political issues and devote itself to promoting a congenial environment where conservative Hindu intellectuals grow and become influential in order to neutralise the rapidly growing western influence.
PS: As I write this piece, Wendy Doniger would be preparing to deliver a keynote address at the annual conference of Association of Asian Studies(AAS 2014) to be held in USA from March 27-30. Title of Ms Doniger’s address will be “Academic Freedom and Censorship: Publishing Controversial Books In India”. Do we expect another round of pro-Wendy chorus from our ‘esteemed’ intellectuals? I expect reader’s valuable comments.
Now the real question is “What is wrong with our intellectuals?”
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Disclaimer applies, as usual, even if it is not mentioned.
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These intellectual use to hit Hindu only because of following reasons:
1. It is easy ti hit them without much hit back like in case of Islam for example.
2. It creates controversy among majority class. Bigger the sea, bigger the wave, bigger the wave, bigger the name. Big the name, bigger pay check.
Simply it is “Rozi, Roti Ka Sawal Hai Baba”
In the last, it is always easier to hit one’ own mother because she will never curse but give you milk again.
Shame..Shame
Excellent Article…..The article itself says it all…..Good Work…
Very well written.You have well highlighted the plight of Hindus and Hinduism.Hinduism being a tolerent religion is always the target of unsavoury criticism by Hindus themselves.Do Arundhati and Ramchandra Guha have the guts to speak a word against thise who sustain their religion by swords.Did M.F.Hussainever showed guts to paint his prophet.Hindus at least showed courage to protest against Hussain who had to decamp from India and could not come back even once.I do not support militency but too much of cowardice is not an answer.Once again I appreciate your effort.
Romanticizing Non-conformism is the hallmark of a generation of intellectuals who have very little originality of their own, tend to denigrate the Traditions and achieve eminence in the eyes of the Western as they lack the scholarship that is needed to understand the Tradition.
Very good post. Thanks.