Of banned books and ignited tempers
One of the most advanced and progressive states of the country, Gujarat has ironically seen quite a spate of bans in recent times. The book is banned in Gujarat alone, what prevents us from buying it in a Maharashtra or a Karnataka.
THEY HAVE done it again. After ‘Fanaa’ and ‘Parzania’, now it is the turn of Jaswant Singh’s book on Jinnah to be banned in Gujarat. While the BJP in the rest of the country is content with merely chucking the man they now consider a major embarrassment out of their camp, the Gujarat wing of the party has taken the resentment one step further – the book has been taken off the shelves and technically ‘banned’. While the rest of the country still has the option of going through it and forming an opinion on it based on their own sensibilities, in Gujarat it has been blocked out altogether.
Considered one of the most advanced and progressive states of the country, Gujarat has ironically seen quite a spate of bans in recent times. While the banning of Parzania was under the guise of preventing inflammation in a communally sensitive region and that of Fanaa was more due to Aamir Khan’s untimely involvement in the Medha Patkar agitation than anything else, the ban on the book throws up an entirely different perspective.
In Gujarat, the Iron Man is revered and unlike a lot of other heroes whose acts of valour are only limited to history textbooks, Patel is one figure who truly commands a lot of respect in this society even six decades post Independence. It is not as if reading a book in favour of Jinnah and ‘opposed’ to the Iron Man will cause people to spill out onto the streets, lead protests or take the law in their own hands. The Gujarati businessman has already seen how much law and order turmoil can affect commerce, and in a state driven by independent business ventures, this can be too big a risk to take. It would be wrong to expect such a reaction to ‘facts’ that have already resonated several times as opinions of several public figures.
There’s also another angle: that of practicality. The book is banned in Gujarat alone, not in the entire country. What prevents us from buying it in a Maharashtra or a Karnataka? The ban is very obviously a farce.
There’s also another angle: that of practicality. The book is banned in Gujarat alone, not in the entire country. What prevents us from buying it in a Maharashtra or a Karnataka? The ban is very obviously a farce.
In the meanwhile, several bookshop owners reported that while the book hardly had much demand when launched, it picked up immense pace once it became a topic of discussion. Even those that had no plans of reading it are exhibiting a desire to at least skim through it, as a result of curiosity that the hype has generated. Like they say, it is the forbidden fruit that always looks most tempting.
In all this, one scratches the head and wonders whether the forbidden fruit is indeed as worthy of all this attention after all. For, eminent politician that he may have been, there is no guarantee Jaswant Singh may have woven wonders and accurate that too, in his book. While the world goes about its work normally, several Gujarati minds are in thought, wondering how exactly they will lay their hands on the book.
In all this, one scratches the head and wonders whether the forbidden fruit is indeed as worthy of all this attention after all. For, eminent politician that he may have been, there is no guarantee Jaswant Singh may have woven wonders and accurate that too, in his book. While the world goes about its work normally, several Gujarati minds are in thought, wondering how exactly they will lay their hands on the book.
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