Fascist Liberals of India – Why the Bloomsbury book cancellation matters!
Freedom of Expression is something that almost all of us are familiar with. It is the notion that everyone has the right to express their opinion in a peaceful way without having to fear any censorship or retribution.
In the Left-Liberal opinion, it seems that only their freedom to express opinions matter and that their opinions are above scrutiny. This has repeated for far too many times even in our recent past and has reared its head again today in form the Bloomsbury Controversy.
Your voice matters. You have the right to say what you think, share information and demand a better world. You also have the right to agree or disagree with those in power, and to express these opinions in peaceful protests
Amnesty International
Delhi Riots 2020 – A book cancelled after getting Published
For the people how are not aware or might not have been following the news, it is about a book cancellation by Bloomsbury India today. A book that was cancelled within 18 hours of its launch. The book in question here is “Delhi Riots 2020 – An Untold Story”.
This book was not cancelled at Editing stage, not at publishing state nor even at the marketing or publicity stage. It was cancelled post publication when the usual suspects started complaining about it. This clearly shows that it passed the editorial scrutiny which I believe in the case of a publishing house like Bloomsbury must be of high standards.
Now the books might be good or it could be really bad. That is beside the question. If Freedom of Expression has to be ensured then it has to be an absolute right or privilege and not something that is dependent on the Political or religious leanings of the authors.
If this was a book by one on the “Left-Liberal” side, then already there would have been international articles in New York Times, Guardian etc. complaining about the ruling dispensation and the threat to the freedom of speech. After that an entire gang would have come down with Op-Eds and some other trend like “Award Wapsi” (Returning the Medals/Awards/Honours). If they truly believe in what they have been preaching since 2014, now is the time for them to prove that they actually meant it and are serious about upholding the ideals that they espouse.
This doesn’t seem to be the case as the on the very same topic of Delhi Riots of 2020 we have another book which “Shaheen Bagh – From Protest to a Movement” which is being published by the same publishing house – Bloomsbury India.
Interestingly the same levels of scrutiny don’t seem to be applied to this book for it supports the narrative being pushed forward by the clique.
The same clique is always too eager to support all activities anti-India but all too eager to praise anything that speaks against or criticizes the Indian Nation. This is evident from all the support and praise for the books like “Kashmir: The case for Freedom”.
This also extends to using the word “Militant” for terrorists in Kashmir whereas everyone else in the world espousing a philosophy against US is a terrorist but not when doing the same thing against India.
A History of selective Outcry
The current book cancellation is just the latest iteration of a pattern which has been repeating again and again. This is the reason why books like “The Hindus: an alternative history” is lauded and feted.
On the contrary the books by Amish which are trying to take a Pro-Hindu but an alternate take on our history and myths is called as polarising and if nothing works then rue over the fact that there are no larger controversies because of the books.
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/why-hasnt-amishs-book-on-ram-angered-indias-thought-police
It is not limited to just books
This is not just limited to books but something that spreads across all media. A movie like Haider is praised by Liberal clique as a powerful film with a message. It is liberal wet dream for it eulogizes the Terrorists whereas as a movie like Uri is supposedly jingoistic and is harmful for the Idea of India as it praises the Indian Armed Forces. It goes further to even compare it with “Triumph of the Will” the Nazi propaganda film.
Why does it matter?
I have been talking about the selective criticism and selective outrage to target a certain ideology but why does it matter for the larger country or even the world. This is not a phenomenon limited to just the geography of India.
The most immediate issue is that the narratives are set by the popular media which comprise of Print and News Media, Movies, Television traditionally and now increasingly the Social Media. This is about the competing narratives where the few who control the narrative want to keep their stranglehold over it. Any competing ideology is tried to nipped in the bud, so that is doesn’t grow to threaten them.
If this narrative becomes stronger and stronger and the genuine voices on the other side are not heard then over a period of time it boils and boils till it bursts out in open. This is evident all over the world in form of the Right-Wing Governments coming up in more and more countries around the world. Almost all the major powers currently are under the Right-Wing Leaders (I consider myself to be a conservative right winger too!). Till the time it is in democratic framework, it works fine and is in fact good for the countries themselves.
But it can lead to far more damaging extremist ideologies and it can be seen in more than one country. The Shah of Iran was suppressing the Islamists over a period of time which in the end led to his downfall and the rise of Islamic theocracy there. This can be seen in the form of recent rise of Islamic Extremism in Turkey as well.
Even the extreme right-wing ideologies of Europe can be traced back to the same phenomenon. If they are given space for genuine conversation where their ideas and concerns are given space and debated upon with them, they will have a chance to release the pent-up anger on issues perceived or real.
This is equally true in the India context as well and particularly in the context of Delhi Riots 2020. This was a riot, where both sides indulged in arson and murder. Who was responsible and why is something that Police and Judiciary will decide but at the same time both sides must be heard. One may not like the narrative being presented by either or both side but at least give them a chance to present their case.
If it is not done and if voice of a group, particularly the majority, is suppressed then the long-term consequences will be far more damaging then what the so-called liberals are trying to prevent now.
<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Conclusion
All opinions must be respected equally, even the ones from opposite side. That is the only way to ensure that the dialogue continues and the ever increasing schism between the right and left can be bridged. At the end, both are trying to make the country and world better in their own different ways. I might argue that leftist ideology is stupid when it comes to economy but I will have to concede about the fact that it has helped improved the labour condition all over the world without which we might have been in a much worse place otherwise. At the same time, it is the capitalism which helped break the communist dictatorships and kept the democracies going.
Ashish Srivastav 
Very correct, true and balance thoughts on these serious issues.
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