Book-banning Indian Democracy

Freedom of expression is an inalienable right of a citizen living in a democracy. India eminently guarantees this freedom to its citizens in its constitution under article 19(1)(a) which reads "All citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression". Before the ink drying on these letters, there comes a proviso in article 19(2), stating "Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence". No one objects to preventing such expressions which threatens the soverignty, security, foreign relations and integrity of the country, contempt of court, incitement to violence and offending decency or morality. But public order? That is a sweeping generalization which in effect nullifies the spirit of the freedom granted. This is a loophole any government can adopt to stifle dissent. In a country which is swamped with fanatics and religious minorities whose passions are offended by even innocuous cartoons, no wonder the ruling faction chose this subclause to summarily ban books which they don't approve of. Below is a list of books banned in India at present. (Source: The Hindu, dt. Mar 4, 2012).


1. Hindu Heaven - Max Wylie (1934)
2. The Face of Mother India - Katherine Mayo (1936)
3. Old Soldier Sahib - Frank Richards (1936)
4. The Land of the Lingam - Arthur Miles (1937)
5. Mysterious India - Moki Singh (1940)
6. The Scented Garden (Anthropology of the sex life in the Levant) - Bernhard Stern (1945)
7. What has Religion done for Mankind - Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (1955)
8. Rama Retold - Aubrey Menen (1955)
9. Dark Urge - Robert W Taylor (1955)
10. The Ramayana - Aubrey Menen (1956)
11. Captive Kashmir - Aziz Beg (1958)
12. The Heart of India - Alexander Campbell (1959)
13. The Lotus and the Robot - Arthur Koestler (1960)
14. Nine Hours to Rama - Stanley Wolpert (1962)
15. Unarmed Victory - Bertrand Russell (1963)
16. Nepal - Tony Hagen (1963)
17. Ayesha - Kurt Frishchler (1963)
18. Lady Chatterley's Lover - D H Lawrence (1964)
19. The Jewel in the Lotus (A Historical Survey of the Sexual Culture of the East) - Allen Edwards (1968)
20. The Evolution of the British Empire and Commonwealth from the American Revolution - Alfred Le Ray Burt (1969)
21. A Struggle between Two Lines over the Question of How to Deal with U.S. Imperialism - Fan Asid-Chu (1969)
22. Man from Moscow - Greville Wynne (1970)
23. Early Islam - Desmond Steward (1975)
24. Nehru: A Political Biography - Michael Edwards (1975)
25. India Independent - Charles Bettelheim (1976)
26. China's Foreign Relations since 1949 - Alan Lawrence (1978)
27. Who Killed Gandhi - Lourenco de Sadvandor (1979)
28. Understanding Islam through Hadis - Ram Swarup (1982)
29. Smash and Grab: Annexation of Sikkim - Sunanda Datta-Ray (1984)
30. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie (1988)
31. Soft Target: How the Indian Intelligence Service Penetrated Canada - Zuhair Kashmeri and Brian McAndrew (1989)
32. The Polyester Prince - Hamish McDonald (1998)
33. The True Furqan - Al Saffee and Al Mahdee (1999)
34. Islam: A Concept of Political World Invasion - R V Bhasin (2007 - Maharashtra)
35. Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India - Joseph Lelyveld (2011 - Gujarat)


Even Bertrand Russell couldn't escape the censoring of some obscure chicken-headed bureaucrats!