Liberal gang-shaming is a thing now. Just like Hindutva army onslaught has been for some time. The manner in which Bloomsbury India was pressured to withdraw the book titled Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story by RSS-sympathetic lawyer Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra is an instance of this. The manner in which big ticket authors like William Dalrymple weighed in makes it clear that liberals and progressives have entered a rabbit hole from which we won’t be able to extricate ourselves easily.
For someone who has always held close the idea that book bans and calls for book bans are inherently fascist acts, this moment of de-platforming of Monika Arora’s book is a deeply conflicting one for me. I intensely disagree with the premise and politics of the book — blame the victim ‘Kapil Mishra style’ — at least from what I gather from social media. But this is when our long-held Voltairean values are tested severely, when books you don’t agree with are denied the space to breathe. I agree it was easier to defend Salman Rushdie than Monika Arora.
I am convinced that the book will find a new home, a new publisher and a new platform. It is inconceivable that under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s government, this kind of a book would simply disappear. In fact, it will now become larger-than-life, which it most probably doesn’t deserve.
But my larger point is this — it is not a celebratory chest-thumping moment for liberals, no matter how you twist your arguments with legal sophistry and do all kinds of ideological gymnastics to make your peace with this moment.
Also read: The idea of ‘safe spaces’ has turned on itself to exclude everyone who dares to differ
Can’t do a volte face now
I am not a millennial woke. My politics was shaped in the 1980s, when I was a teenager. That was when Salman Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses was banned by the Rajiv Gandhi government.
If I disapproved of the ban on The Satanic Verses, if I disapproved of Dinanath Batra (whom I called “Ban Man” in my article in The Washington Post), if I disapproved of how Taslima Nasreen was hounded and attacked in Hyderabad by Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, then I can’t suddenly do a volte face and chest-thump today.
When you ban a book, it acquires a kind of cult status because the market fuels curiosity. That is what happened with other banned books. In fact, there are books chronicling banned books by different regimes in history.
We don’t need Hindutva libraries of Alexandria — let them breathe, be ignored, challenged, die, and be forgotten over the ground.
Also read: ‘This is fascism’ — Flak for Bloomsbury on social media as it withdraws book on Delhi riots
De-platforming isn’t the way
There are many who argue that this is not a ban, that the government did not force Bloomsbury India to withdraw, that this is just public outrage. And that public outrage is different from State action. But public outrage often leads to State action. That’s what happened in Rushdie’s case. In painter M.F. Husain’s case, it began with public outrage, with Hindu fundamentalist hoodlums going into galleries and protesting against Husain displays and protesting outside his house naked. Then the countless legal challenges in court followed.
To be clear, I am not elevating Monika Arora’s propaganda to the level of high art and high literature. I am not indulging in false equivalence either, like many of my friends would accuse me of. All I am saying is that forcing Bloomsbury India to withdraw the book is counter-productive – both politically and in the pure sense of how market forces work.
I was against the bringing down of the Confederate statues and colonial statues after George Floyd murder and Black Lives Matter protests, even though the anger was understandable. Instead, if our 21st Century politics of rights does not allow us to tolerate a Confederate statue at the city centre, there are better ways of dealing with it than throwing it in the river. Put it in a museum or erect plaques around it to give it context and history, explaining how it is an anathema today. Shame the statue, instead of erasing it.
This is not how you stop a thought. If you find that WhatsApp narratives are being turned into books, they should be countered with different books. Bloomsbury tweeted that they are running a book called Shaheen Bagh: From a protest to a Movement by Zia us Salam and Uzma Ausaf.
Yes it would be called ‘both-sideism’, a dirty word today. Many would ask, would you advocate freedom of thought and speech under Nazi Germany? The answer to these questions are both easy and complicated. No, I wouldn’t advocate ‘both-sideism’ under Adolf Hitler. That’s the easy answer. But there is a larger nuanced issue at hand here. One of how liberals and progressives are digging themselves into a bottomless hole in today’s politics with a series of self-goals.
But whichever way you answer that question, de-platforming and bans are not the way to go.
To quote Shahab Jafari’s famous Urdu couplet: Tu idhar udhar ki na baat kar, yeh bata ke kaafila kyon luta/mujhe rehjano se gila nahin, teri rahbari pe sawaal hai. (Don’t beat around the bush saying this or that, just tell me how did our caravan get plundered/I have no grudge with the bandits, but am asking questions on your leadership).
Where do you draw the line? Today, many are relieved that this book will not find a publisher in Bloomsbury. But what will you do if Swarajya or OpIndia launches a publishing house of its own in the future?
Also read: Those who abused Hindu gods scared book on Delhi riots will expose them, Kapil Mishra says
Powering up Hindu fundamentalists
There were other options liberals could have exercised. They could have questioned Bloomsbury India’s editorial judgement in accepting Monika Arora’s book for publication. That decision was driven by greed and fear probably, as is the one of withdrawal. Liberals could have even boycotted writing for Bloomsbury. But to rejoice the de-platforming is the latest in a long list of liberal self goals, not unique to India. This is happening around the world in the name of freedom of speech and expression. But all good values are tested in adversity and that is where we demonstrate the robustness of that principle.
If you celebrate this moment, it is going to be really difficult to come back from this. If you chest-thump right now, it defeats your politics long term and will be quoted ad nauseam for decades to come and labelled as pseudo. It will just embolden Hindu fundamentalists in India and abroad to justify demands for banning and de-platforming Wendy Doniger, Sheldon Pollock and Isabel Wilkerson.
Views are personal.
Read the following in The Print ‘Rajapalayam, Kanni, Combai — all about Indian dog breeds PM Modi talked about in Mann ki Baat’
‘In his Mann ki Baat radio address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to adopt dogs of Indian breeds as he emphasised the need to be self-reliant in all areas.’
I ask Hindus why Modi does not urge Hindus to publish in OpIndia instead of Bloomsbury his story of the Delhi riots and the the Gujarat riots ? Where is ‘Make in India’ and Hindu pride then ?
The answer is ……well ‘Make in India’ RSS style will be such duplicity and stupidity only. These BJP Hindus are pathetic. Modi is giving advice on indigenisation of dogs to a small minority that can afford them. Most dogs in India are stray. Probably, he thinks the people are like that also.
My advice to Hindus on the learning points from the Bloomsbury episode are the following :
The Delhi riots were created by the RSS-BJP to intimidate the Muslims over the NRC protests. The world knows that because BBC, CNN, Jazeera, Guardian etc. published stories of comments by Anurag Thakur, Hindu mobs being brought from outside, the police throwing stones to support the Hindu mobs. Even SG admitted on NDTV it was unprofessional.
It is not the liberals who scored an own goal.This was an attempt to use a foreign publisher to whitewash the Delhi pogrom but it failed. Bloomsbury UK’s rejection proves the outside world understands who organised the Delhi riots. Your anger stems from that frustration.
You can publish it in OpIndia and you have a market in the supporters of Hindu fascism. Nobody has prevented freedom of speech, the BJP would not block its supporters, they encourage fake news, they have an IT cell with a lakh of Hindu youth employed just for that.
You need to come out of your delusions about your Hindu superman Modi. He cannot make India a Hindu superpower. Every indicator shows he is a failure : economy, Covid control and China. He has given up on Covid. On China, he showed abject cowardice. The outside world has seen it. Would it help to write a book saying India won in Galwan ?
Even on Balakot, the outside world did not endorse your claims. The only tangible and sure thing we know is 49 soldiers were killed in Pulwama, 1 pilot was shot down and returned. The rest was fiction concocted by the godman.
You need to get real and show that you are capable of ruling. The last 6 years sows doubts in the mind about your capabilities. You need to get out of your pathetic habit of beating up minorities, pretending you are the victim, and then shouting shrilly about the J word.
The author says ‘Today, many are relieved that this book will not find a publisher in Bloomsbury. But what will you do if Swarajya or OpIndia launches a publishing house of its own in the future?’
OpIndia, and Swarajya and many other Hindu media are already publishing fake news and hatred. Another Hindu channel Sudarshan News is propagating Muslims are doing a ‘bureaucracy jihad’ because they studied and got some IAS and IPS seats. The BJP’s IT cell already controls the hate market.
So what if OpIndia, and Swarajya publish the fake story on the Delhi riots ? Most Hindus already believe them. The author has missed the point. The Hindu fascists want the foreign brands like Bloomsbury to recognise their alternative facts. They hoped the world will accept their version. That did not happen, so they are in a rage against liberals.
In any case, it is too late. The prestigious channels like BBC, CNN, Jazeera, and news papers like the WP, Guardian, NYT etc. have already explained that the riots were instigated by BJP to intimidate Muslims over the NRC. Various US cities have passed resolutions condemning NRC. The book wants to influence world opinion and portray Hindus are the victims and not the aggressors. You are wasting your time as the Hindus want to believe that, but the world will not accept.
You have two options : wallow in your Hindu sadism or become civilised. That is the take away from the Bloomsbury saga. You can believe Republic Channel and OpIndia but the outside world will not accept. Sooner or later, the RSS will organise a riot, probably in Bengal. Then also will you write a book pleading Hindu innocence ?
Liberals = Pedo Mo’s army + Marxists + Naxals + Anti-Hindu bigots + Gutter Journalists of NYT, WP, Guardian + Other gutter creatures.
BJP Hindus = low IQ Hindu rapists, lynchers and cowards
‘Gutter Journalists of NYT, WP, Guardian + Other gutter creatures.’
Hindus like you are on a war against the whole world – because of the dirty image you created for yourself !
The rest of the world is influenced by NYT, WP, Guardian , BBC, CNN, Jazeera, Bloomsbury, and not OpIndia and Republic channel. There is no point raging against quality.
Get real and correct yourself. Raise your quality.
My advice to all the Hindutva Hindus : you can believe Muslims were responsible for the Delhi riots, but it is established in the outside world the RSS-BJP organised a pogrom.
You cannot change that perception : I have seen the coverage of the riots in the top TV media, the BBC, CNN, Jazeera, and also I read the articles in NYT, WP, Guardian etc. You can circulate your ‘alternative reality’ amongst yourselves to generate more hatred against Indian Muslims , but you cannot convince outsiders that you are doing anything other than burn your house.
You have two choices : live in your alternative world of falsehood and wickedness, or wake up to reality and prevent the burning of your country by the BJP.
The writer claims that liberals scored an own goal. Then it was a success for the supporters of Hindu fascism ! So why are the supporters of Hindu fascism in this message board in a rage about liberals and secular democrats ?
Let us get to the crux of the matter. Amit Shah shipped in Hindu mobs from outside Delhi and organised a pogrom of Muslims. The Indian media and the BBC and foreign media showed the Delhi police joined the Hindu mob and threw stones. I saw Shekhar Gupta in a NDTV panel discussion say the police behaviour was unprofessional. The world outside knows organising violence against minorities is a tactic of the BJP-RSS.
This has already been established. It is too late to write ‘alternative facts’ and say Hindus were victims. The Hindus who want to believe that already believe that, so they do not need a book. The outside world has made up its mind, and such a clumsy attempt to mask what happened only confirms who the guilty culprit is.
Bloomsbury India’s editors tried to sell the Sanghi line but because liberals protested, the news got to Bloomsbury UK, and they realised the book will become a fake-news liability for them. Hindutva scored an own goal, that is why such Hindus are bitter about it.
I advise foreign countries and foreign businesses to think carefully before investing in India. It is a declining country where ‘Hindu nationalism’ has run amok. The government organises mob riots and police takes part in it. This is the learning point from this episode.
Holy cow ! All the Hindu fascists are defending freedom of speech – for genocidists to tell the ‘alternative facts’.
I cite the very Hindu saying : Muh main Ram, bagal main churi !
They say liberals scored an own goal. Sounds like sour grapes. Bloomsbury UK got to know what is happening in India, and that upsets the Hindu fascists. They think the world should go with their ‘alternative facts’. They think the outside world is also composed of dumb bhakts.
Bangladeshi soldier of Pedo MO army.
The Hindus are sending all their surplus cows to Bangladesh. The racket is run by the BJP. It is good for business. What happened to all the cow sheds your Yogi was building ? If Bangladesh stopped the cows, they would eat your crops.
Bloomsbury was right to drop this book. Bloomsbury India’s editors had passed the book which seeks to present ‘alternative news’ on the pogrom against Muslims organised by the BJP. Everyone knows the BJP shipped in Hindu hoodlums from UP, and they were incited by Anurag Thakur, and the BBC showed Delhi police joining the Hindu rioters and throwing stones. Only the BJP and RSS have the resources to mobilise mobs and create a riot.
Bloomsbury India’s editors are the new generation of communalised Hindus with no ethics – they are cut in the same mould as Arnob in the TV media, and the RSS-BJP spokesmen. Bloomsbury India’s editors wanted to cash in with ‘alternative news’ as they know there is a large Hindu market waiting to absolve Hindus and pin the blame on the hapless minorities. It was disgraceful. I congratulate the academics and intellectuals for raising the flag and protesting to Bloomsbury. The head office of Bloomsbury UK heard about it, and realised putting out fake news legitimsing genocide will discredit their reputation, and they stepped in to block it.
Foreign companies doing business in India need to recognise India is a liability for their business. They have to re-evaluate and recognise they are working in an environment run by Hindu fascists, and they should be extra vigilant. The same thing has happened in Facebook. Its India chief was allowing the BJP’s hate speech, and blocking criticism of the government. Facebook runs on gossip and its Indian market is dominated by hate, because that is what turns on Hindus. In the case of Bloomsbury, it sells books, not short messages. Books are written and read by intellectuals. Bloomsbury’s customer base is different from Facebook. Facebook’s customer base in India is largely the uneducated Hindu vagabond. Even for Facebook, India, Myanamar etc. has brought negative publicity due to its use for hate, and some advertisers have withdrawn. Facebook is also being questioned in the US, and there are groups organised to contest them.
In light of what Facebook and Bloomsbury face with communalised Hindus CEOs of their operations in India, to avoid such trouble, they should consider minorities (Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Muslims) for the top post, as they are less likely to go along with attacks on minorities.
As for this author’s mock congratulations against liberals for scoring an own goal, it is sour grapes. Right wing fascists who wanted to white wash their genocide using an international brand got caught and the news has spread abroad. No doubt some third rate Hindu publisher will publish the book, and no doubt many Hindus will endorse it. The argument that blocking fascists and fanatics would only make them worse cannot be an argument. If you appease them now, they will continue with more pogroms and think they can whitewash it for the international community.
The author’s argument is like those Hindus who say ‘ if liberals continue to criticise Modi, I shall get angry and resolve to make Modi stronger’. Modi may become stronger, but India is getting weaker. So go ahead. It only proves Hindus will cut their nose to spite their face.
The author is part of the jihadi left talking total nonsense. She has spent more time trying to justify the irrational hatred of Hinduism by her leftist brothers and sisters than clearly and unequivocally condemn the ban. The Left stinks of the gutter where they spend most of their time.
Who has banned the book ? Bloomsbury withdrew as they realised it is fake news to whitewash genocide.
The Hindu govt. is arranging to get it published. So be quiet.
You guys stink so bad that I do not want to come close to you even in the comments section but for the sake of exposing you, I have to. You low IQ person, you are trying semantics (Who has banned the book?) to hide your heinous act. Bloomsbury realized only after the Jihadis started making noises? Where were they all the months they were reviewing the book draft? Whether the Hindu government is arranging to publish the book or not is irrelevant. The relevant point is that Pedo Mo’s children like you are continuing your war on civilized society and we must resist. Disgusting and despicable act by low IQ, no morality Jihadis with a bit of Marxism veneer.
Bloomsbury’s UK editors gave a free hand to its India editors. The latter are Hindus who are also infected by the Hindutva virus. These people reviewed the books. But when protests arose, Bloomsbury’s UK editors got to know and they realised it was an effort to whitewash genocide.
‘…continuing your war on civilized society and we must resist. Disgusting and despicable act by low IQ, no morality Jihadis with a bit of Marxism veneer.’
Hindus organised a pogrom and you beat up the minority, then you want to pretend you are the victim, and to boot you shout the J word !!!!
‘Whether the Hindu government is arranging to publish the book or not is irrelevant.’
What is most relevant is you cannot pull your fast stories outside. That is the reason Hindus are angry.
The takeaway from this episode is you cannot sell your fabrication outside India. You can only pass it amongst yourselves and other low IQ Hindus.
The BBC, CNN, Jazeera, Guardian etc. have already reported the govt. brought in Hindus from outside Delhi, and the police aided the rioters – it is too late to write such a book. So what is your point ?
In the first term, the world gave Modi the benefit of the doubt partly because they thought India has a big market. But after tanking the economy, there are no takers for India, and people can see Modi has nothing apart from Hindu chauvinism to sell.
Hindus are incapable of governance and the Delhi riots prove that.
The Hindu ethos, since the ancient times has been, co existence of all opinions , however disagreeable that may be…. hindu philosophy says that there is always a third point of view…. the intolerance for a different point of view is a recent phenomenon, since independence with the advent of Leftists in our politics and their influence on our eco system…. Unfortunately the liberals on the left side too have been perpetrators of the same…. namimg and shaming all those who hold contrary opinions…. Whatever be the motives or whoever are the writers behind the writing on the ‘Delhi Riots 2020’ is totally immaterial… they have a right to be heard…. It is Bloomesberry’s loss…. Because today people are willing to listen to the other side…. So undoubtedly its a loss of face for the LIBERATI Gang…. So its time we bring back the ancient Hindu Ethos rather than follow the Left-Liberati ethos… thats what will be good for India….
‘ It is Bloomesberry’s loss…. Because today people are willing to listen to the other side…. So undoubtedly its a loss of face for the LIBERATI Gang….’
If so, why are the Hindus raging here against Bloomsbury and leftists because they do not understand your Hindu ethos ?
What is the Hindu ethos ? Organise a riot, rape and kill minorities, and then whitewash it and say Hindus are spiritual ?
Mo’s army soldier from Bangladesh.