What Happens When They Ban a Book?

Globally, Books are written not just to facilitate reading but also to express opinions and various viewpoints. Book writing is one of the most powerful ways of communicating ones expressions and inner feelings. Not just those…Books are written to definitely represent certain groups of people. At times, facts are tough to digest, especially when it comes to representing a group of people or communities. We can also deal with the issues of freedom of expression and creative thinking. In this article, we will look at some of the scenarios leading to banning some books in some regions of the world. We will also look in to the aspects such as consequences of banning such books.

India belongs to a very vibrant and dynamic category of societies. It’s a nation of mixed cultures, customs, creed and religions. The abstract is clear that each religion has been represented by some book or an ideology. The beauty is that there are contradictions within the books of the same religions. We don’t have to dwell upon the differences among these different books, that’s why they are different leading to many religions. This introduction was needed to understand the banning of books in India is to do with the complexities involved with different religions and respective ideologies.

Let’s get on to the topic of interest now…why was Salman Rushdie’s satanic verses was banned a decade ago and why was he not allowed in India even after a decade. Salman is just an example; we have Taslimas of the world. The reason why these books from these infamous authors were banned is not a mystery. But, the way political establishments deal with these issues is quite a mystery. So, let’s not get in to the mysterious politics and apply commonsense. As a nation, we are always proud of being secular. It’s a lie in its obvious format. We talk about freedom of expression, it’s another smart lie like 24x7 services offered by one of these telecom companies. So, what’s the actual problem?? The real problem is with in the making of the society which is basically intolerant. The idea of intolerance has been sliced down to the sections of these societies and reached its own religion. Banning a book written by a scholar and intimidating with his life is a simple reflection of intolerance.

As an educated society what we should be doing is entirely a different exercise. We need to debate digressing point of views and the authorities whoever claiming to be so need to come boldly to explain the right point of view, may be write another book challenging the criticism. If the authorities have no guts, they should not display their timidity by mobbing up innocent crowds against innocent authors. On the flipside, these writings get more popularity and become more powerful through this process. Thanks to the internet, we can see what exactly being written. The truth above any emotion is that these books are written with limited wisdom and more books can be written to give a complete sense of wisdom.