To ban or not to ban; this is not the question.
Wasn’t long back that
Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus; An Alternative History was withdrawn by The Penguin,
forcing people to talk turkey. Strong opinions, exasperated comments, inflated
egoistic remarks; everyone has something to dish out. The out of court
settlement with the right wing lobby, high talk on religious sentiments has had
all of us involved in a bull’s session. However, what is the real question? Is
it, how important it was to ban her book or how the book is detrimental to our
society? Is it about author’s scholarship, quality of work or the colonial
hangover she might have carried, if any. One may also question the attacks on
the book, the rightist attitude towards condemning anything slightly negative
towards religion.
At the same time, it is
also important to question ourselves? Are we as Indians being pseudo secular banning
away books which are non-normative? Whether it is Satanic Verses (1988) or A.K
Ramanujan’s (Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five examples and three thoughts on
translation) in 2011 or The true Furqan by Al Saffee and Al Mahdee in 2005 to
cite a few.
It is also important to
question our modernity, for it is us, who stand united, up in arms, against
Valentines Day celebration; condemn girls wearing jeans to college and resort
to legitimizing Kangaroo courts in the name of preserving culture.
Also important is to question
the neo liberal agenda which feeds us scraps of cultural leftovers from feasts
enjoyed by right wing politics, corporate and sponsored media; leaving us to
enjoy a simulated holy war against an invisible threat, deliberately
constructed in our psyche.
It is also important to
question the world of glittering voyeuristic pleasure we revel in. Addiction to
Yo Yo honey Singh brand of songs or applauding the flamboyant display of performances
replete with double entendres, sexually obscene gestures and suggestive body
language. It is important to question an audience that watches its own younger
generation sinking its teeth deep into voyeuristic pleasure and devouring it
with delight.
We, the biggest
democracy of the world, with ancient religions dating thousands of years should
perhaps also question the formation of such a collective; with fragmented
identities and hollow value system trapped in a state of perpetual unrest and
discord within. The intoxicating celebrations of our neo-liberal world are marked
by a ruthless display of ‘symbolic and cultural capital’ one has amassed;
recreating and ‘reproducing’ stereotypes.
It is important to
question the pervasive hypocrisy of our society rendering it susceptible to
violence as is experienced by a Nirbhaya everyday or when a new Mujaffar Nagar
is destroyed every once in a while.
It seems that religion
is such a frail entity that any little investigation will lead to its downfall
and destruction. This obsession with sanctity and a fortified conservative attitude
towards the sacred is bewildering. This insecurity to preserve rectitude is
confusing. Academic work of any kind, if at all ruffle some feathers; should be
taken in the right spirit and religion should be able to defend itself for its
believers.
Though I haven’t read
the book myself like many others condemning it; I still want to defend the author’s
freedom of expression as much I want to defend the religion’s inherent strength
to answer back to its detractors.
It is important to
question, Why are we afraid and of what?
Religions are not weak,
nor are human beings foolish. If we have a society which has grown up to be
able to deal with Honey Singh and the likes; the potential damage such lyrics
may cause to society; an academic article can cause no harm. Should a religious
entity not be able to hold fast in the wake of such dissent voices?
In fact, such a parallel
discourse must exist, so as to provide a chance to the believer to rediscover
the strengths of her religion and eliminate its weaknesses. Our religions are
not in need of rightwing bail-outs. Wendy Doniger’s book should not be seen as
an offensive limitation.
It is time, to look
within, and lift some bans off our soul than ban questions which do not have
easy answers.
