On Being Liberal

"Toleration does not, to use Govind Ranade’s phrase, come in halves. You cannot pick and choose when to be tolerant."

A few days back Penguin-India decided to 'pulp' Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus: An Alternative History. The opinon pages have been ablaze with arguments for and against this decision. 

All such bans, IMHO, are clever marketing ploys. There is nothing like a good controversy to kick up flagging sales. As for those who are crying themselves hoarse against the ban, it would be good to examine some inconvenient facts:

• Subramanian Swamy tweeted @Swamy39 - "Why are libtards weeping on Doniger?At least she had a chance to reply in court. When Harvard terminated my courses I could not reply."
• There were no protests when Joseph Lelyveld's book "Great Soul" was banned for hinting at Gandhi's relationship with Hermann Kallenbach
• A. M. Singhvi got Spanish author, Javier Moro's novel "The Red Sari" blocked because its uncomplimentary focus was on Sonia Gandhi.
• Jitender Bhargava was ordered to withdraw his book on Air India.
• Ban on R.V. Bhasin's book on Islam

At the end of the day, its good to know of contrarian viewpoints. What would the world be without alternate narratives?

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LINKS:

* Kesavan, Mukul (Telegraph) - Penguin's day in courts - Pulping the Hindus -- http://www.abplive.in/india/2014/02/13/article261911.ece/Penguins-day-in-court---Pulping-the-Hindus#.UwhV__mSxqD
* Balbir Punj (IE, 21Feb14) - Dishonesty on Doniger

* Indologist - Wend Doniger - ‘for’ the ban - http://www.firstpost.com/india/why-the-wendy-doniger-episode-is-not-a-free-speech-issue-1388751.html

- Rajiv Malhotra (Sulekha) - http://creative.sulekha.com/risa-lila-1-wendy-s-child-syndrome_103338_blog

- http://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/VantageView/entry/the-case-of-the-hindus-freedom-comes-with-responsibility

- Tunku Varadarajan (Daily Beast) - http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/12/india-s-shameful-failure-to-defend-historian-of-hinduism.html

- Rajiv Malhotra (compilation) - http://beingdifferentforum.blogspot.in/2014/02/hitchhikers-guide-to-invading-sacred.html?m=1

- Mehta, Pratap (2014): SILENCING OF LIBERAL INDIA - http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/silencing-of-liberal-india/