In any controversy, the participants cannot decide who is right or wrong. A democracy has a process in place to settle these disputes: the judiciary. Dinanath Batra in true democratic fashion availed of that opportunity citizen and Penguin's decision was the outcome of a legitimate legal battle, says Vivek Gumaste.
Another book on Hinduism by American indologist Wendy Doniger has come under attack from the same Delhi-based group which had compelled the publishers of an earlier work by her to withdraw the title.
Devdutt Pattanaik responds to the decision by Penguin to withdraw and pulp Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus: An Alternative History.
Penguin Books India has decided to withdraw copies of United States Indologist Wendy Doniger's book "The Hindus: An Alternative History" following a court-backed settlement with a Delhi-based voluntary group which had objected to several "inaccuracies and biases" in it.
The preferred course of action to challenge Wendy Doniger's many published works and polemical Hinduphobic statements is to debate it, Aseem Shukla tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
Here's what your favourite Bollywood celebrities are tweeting.
What is there in Wendy Doniger's book that has raised the hackles of the Hindu right wing? A K Bhattacharya explains
'In theory, yes, Hindus are very open. I'm one of them. I've coined the phrase 'open architecture'... But I think the Wendy Doniger group is not allowing open architecture. They are closing this architecture'... 'They are bringing a point of view in such a heavy-handed way that it tends to dominate and it tends to suppress the alternative points of view. So some kind of counteraction is necessary and using the law is a decent thing to do.' Rajiv Malhotra, one of Wendy Doniger's most vociferous critics, speaks to Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais about the prejudices created by American scholars about Hindu gods and Hinduism.
The book was scheduled to hit the stands in October 2013 but has since been aborted.
American Indologist Wendy Doniger, the author of "The Hindus: An Alternative History", whose copies will now be withdrawn by the Penguin Books India following a court-backed settlement with a Delhi-based voluntary group, has come up with an official response.
'For over a decade, the United States has been shaping the contours of Hinduism. It has been doing this from the perspective of upper caste and conservative interests,' Professor Shefali Chandra tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
The court case in India against Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus was in a way initiated in Atlanta, Georgia, by a group of Indian-American businessmen including Dhiru Shah, who have been fighting against several controversial books on Hinduism by Western thinkers and professors in recent years.
Freedom of speech does not mean you can write or say anything and everything. You cannot hurt the sentiments of the people on the pretext of freedom of speech, says Dinanath Batra, one of the main petitioners against Wendy Doniger's book, The Hindus: An Alternative History.
Ma Durga might be the city's most celebrated annual visitor, but Kali is the resident Goddess, notes Sandip Roy.
'The elections are still a few months away. The fascists are, thus far, only campaigning. Yes, it's looking bad, but they are not in power. Not yet. And you've already succumbed?' Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy writes an anguished open letter to publishing house Penguin India, which agreed to withdraw and pulp all copies of Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History, following a legal suit.
'For years American academia has used the concerns about Hindutva in India to almost completely trash the concept of Hinduism.' 'In the American debate, Wendy Doniger's point of views perpetuated Hinduphobia.' 'Americans were willing to change... Indian intellectuals let us down badly.'
The Thiruvananthapuram MP, who was speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode on Friday, said while he concedes the BJP's dominance, it is also a fact that they have lost many states and them losing the central government is not impossible.
On Tuesday, Section 66A of Information Technology Act was struck down. However, these other laws could still spell trouble for free speech
G Sreedathan interviews Dinanath Batra, president of Siksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas and national convener of Siksha Bacho Andolan, who shot to fame after he was instrumental in getting American scholar Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism pulped.
Under criticism for withdrawing United States scholar Wendy Doniger's book, 'The Hindus: An Alternative History', from the country, Penguin Books India on Friday said it had an obligation to respect laws even if they were "intolerant and restrictive".
'The book was NOT banned. There were NO book burnings. There were NO riots. The author was NOT sent death-threats. On the contrary, the plaintiffs pursued due process. The case is a textbook example of how to proceed with civilised, democratic dissent,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Rajiv Malhotra's plagiarism may not be as horrifying as impersonating an exam candidate in Indore -- but they're both forms of cheating.
'How can Hindus protest efforts to ban an edition of the Gita in parts of Russia, and force a publisher to withdraw an academic critique of Hinduism, all in the same breath? It makes the Hindu community seem petty, self-serving, and hypocritical. Episodes like this allow Hinduism to be "owned" by the most conservative, intolerant, extremist voices. These people do not speak for me, and they certainly don't represent the form of Hinduism I practice and love," Princeton University's Hindu chaplain Vineet Chander tells Rediff.com's Arthur J Pais.
If people respect our culture and interests, why should anyone become more regressive? Education will not be saffronised. Just the correct picture will be portrayed and facts not distorted.' Dr Dinanath Batra, who successfully litigated to have Penguin withdraw copies of Wendy Doniger's book on Hinduism, tells Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa what India will be like if the BJP under Narendra Modi forms the next government.
Expressing his concerns about India under Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party, India-born author Salman Rushdie said that the attacks on freedom of expression could worsen if the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power.
'Padmavati represents the voice of thousands of Rajput women who lived and died not by their own choice.' 'Let their story be heard,' says Kishore Singh.
Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday rejected allegations that her ministry was trying to push books written by Hindutva ideologues, saying it will abide by "constitutional modalities" before taking any step.
The Bharatiya Shiksha Niti Aayog will study the present education system and suggest corrective steps to make it Bharat-centric. G Sreedathan reports
'Is there any harm in studying the history of India? This is not a regressive stand. The Vedas and Upanishads should be included in our textbooks,' says Dinanath Batra.
Narendra Modi can pick up a tip from the Samajwadi Party ramlila. If he doesn't want L K Advani as President, he might anoint him Bharatiya Bhishma Pitamah, suggests Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'A few people have begun to dictate what the country should wear, think, see, go about its lives. That is the real Indian bak****.'
As education minister Smriti Irani should be worried about the state of education nationwide rather than fuelling a German-versus-Sanskrit row, says Sunil Sethi
The venom and contemptuous sarcasm evident on the army's tweet on the Yeti and my reply has something to do with the intrinsic hatred that a section of the media nurses against the right wing, says Tarun Vijay.
'The wonderful thing about being a journalist is that when someone tries to muzzle your work, it's a badge of honour.' 'You know you've done something right,' Priyanka Pathak-Narain, the author of Godman To Tycoon: The Untold Story Of Baba Ramdev, tells Sunil Sethi.
'Few practitioners of yoga doing the Surya Namaskar, including lakhs of Americans and Europeans, see it as a form of worshipping the sun. They do it because it is good exercise.' 'In my view Muslim groups need to be more flexible on such things and not present their problem in terms that are confrontational.' 'Having said that, are they over-reacting? The history and the background of the government and its ministers would lead us to believe otherwise,' says Aakar Patel.
'It is a great misfortune that the Nehruvian Stalinists of India have colluded with the grand project of demeaning and destroying Sanskrit. Today, the number of Sanskritists in India is low, and falling,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
India has a tradition of rich narrative and storytelling and hence it's a natural market for self publishing, believes Jon P Fine, Amazon's director (author and publishing relations).
'On as many as two occasions, Sita is called upon to take a test to establish her integrity and loyalty to Rama and on both the occasions she opts for a course of action on her own terms,' points out A K Bhattacharya, reviewing Bibek Debroy's translation of the Ramayana.
'Hindus are proud of what the Dharmashastras symbolise, but they don't want to do any work to preserve it!,' Sanskrit scholar Donald Davis tells Kanika Dutta.
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