Cultural Emergency of India
CULTURAL EMERGENCY IN INDIA
Is India facing what author Salman Rushdie calls a "cultural emergency" with writers, painters and filmmakers being targeted by the mob?
Consider the events that have made the front pages this week.
Leading academic Ashis Nandy is threatened with arrest after he makes controversial remarks about corruption and disadvantaged groups at the popular Jaipur literary festival. Sir Salman himself is asked to stay away from a film promotion and a literary festival in Calcutta, supposedly one of India's more liberal cities, because authorities fear protests from fringe Muslim groups. Similar groups have demanded a ban on actor-director Kamal Haasan's new film Vishwaroopam, prompting the star to complain about "cultural terrorism".
The outsize controversy over the remarks made by Prof Nandy, who was once voted one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine, demonstrates how fringe groups can threaten free speech with impunity.
At a panel discussion ironically called the Republic of Ideas, the scholar said "most of the corrupt" in India came from its most disadvantaged groups, but he also said that corruption among the rich was less conspicuous.
Ashis Nandy is one of India's top academics All hell broke loose: there was a tsunami of media-generated outrage, a police complaint was lodged against Prof Nandy, and prominent Dalit leader Mayawati said he should be sent to prison. Very few people seemed to be listening to Prof Nandy's patient clarifications. Dalit scholar Kancha Ilaiah said Prof Nandy had made "a bad statement with good intentions". But the harassment of the good professor is likely to continue.
Sir Salman, who's no stranger to controversy in India, was asked to stay away from promoting Midnight's Children, the film based on his novel, and a book fair in Calcutta on Wednesday following fears of fringe Muslim groups protesting against his presence. "Rushdie banished from Calcutta," said
Is India facing what author Salman Rushdie calls a "cultural emergency" with writers, painters and filmmakers being targeted by the mob?
Consider the events that have made the front pages this week.
Leading academic Ashis Nandy is threatened with arrest after he makes controversial remarks about corruption and disadvantaged groups at the popular Jaipur literary festival. Sir Salman himself is asked to stay away from a film promotion and a literary festival in Calcutta, supposedly one of India's more liberal cities, because authorities fear protests from fringe Muslim groups. Similar groups have demanded a ban on actor-director Kamal Haasan's new film Vishwaroopam, prompting the star to complain about "cultural terrorism".
The outsize controversy over the remarks made by Prof Nandy, who was once voted one of the world's top 100 public intellectuals by Foreign Policy magazine, demonstrates how fringe groups can threaten free speech with impunity.
At a panel discussion ironically called the Republic of Ideas, the scholar said "most of the corrupt" in India came from its most disadvantaged groups, but he also said that corruption among the rich was less conspicuous.
Ashis Nandy is one of India's top academics All hell broke loose: there was a tsunami of media-generated outrage, a police complaint was lodged against Prof Nandy, and prominent Dalit leader Mayawati said he should be sent to prison. Very few people seemed to be listening to Prof Nandy's patient clarifications. Dalit scholar Kancha Ilaiah said Prof Nandy had made "a bad statement with good intentions". But the harassment of the good professor is likely to continue.
Sir Salman, who's no stranger to controversy in India, was asked to stay away from promoting Midnight's Children, the film based on his novel, and a book fair in Calcutta on Wednesday following fears of fringe Muslim groups protesting against his presence. "Rushdie banished from Calcutta," said