Salman Rushdie has been elevated to Knighthood by his adopted country. But his country of birth still refuses to accept him. Mohib argues that the plight of Rushdie is emblematic of the growing intolerance in the Indian society.
Banning books, threatening authors, blackening houses have all been a recent phenomenon and should have no place in modern society. The fact that poets like Mir and Ghalib could write pretty much anything during the 17th and 18th centuries and get away with it provides us a mirror in terms of freedom of expression. And the picture in the mirror is not pretty.
Comments
1 comment. Leave your comment »
Mohib
Jun 17th, 2007 at 8:24 pm | #
Thanks for linking to this one.
A minor correction:
17th and 18th centuries should be read as 18th and 19th centuries.