The Supreme Court of India’s lifting of a ban on American author James W. Laine’s controversial book, “Shivaji: A Hindu King in Islamic India,” on Friday has created political unrest and outrage in Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena working president Uddhav Thackeray announced on Saturday that the Sena would not allow the sale of the book in Maharashtra. His cousin and president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray threatened that the MNS will see how the book is sold in Maharashtra. “If anyone tries to sell the book, then they will face the music in MNS style. We will burn each and every copy of the book,” he said.
Commenting on the lifting of the ban, RR Patil, state home minister, said, “The Supreme Court had upheld the Bombay High Court’s judgment lifting the ban on the book, which has derogatory references to and a character assassination of our Maratha warrior Shivaji. The Congress-NCP led Democratic Front government was firm on enforcing ban on the book.
“Our stand remains the same as that of taken in 2004. We would examine the Supreme Court judgment when we get a copy and then take a decision.”
The decision to ban the book in Maharashtra was taken in 2004 by the Congress-led DF government when Patil was home minister. The alleged denigrating references to the Maratha warrior kicked up a storm with Hindu fanatics from the Sambhaji Brigade attacking the Pune-based Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) where Laine had carried out research.
This attack led the state government to ban the book, but the NCP capitalized on this and made it an election issue during the 2004 polls to garner votes.
The NCP appears to have distanced itself from the stance that Patil took. “The state government had banned the book in view of the then prevailing situation and controversy about the book. Any home minister would have taken such a decision. In fact, the decision to ban the book was not taken alone by the NCP, but by the DF government,” said Gurunath Kulkarni, state unit general secretary of the NCP.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan said that in view of the Supreme Court’s judgment to lift the ban, legal experts would be consulted and that the government would then take a decision. “We have due respect for judgments delivered by courts. There are strong sentiments expressed by the people of the state against Laine’s book. Therefore, after studying the law, a necessary decision will be taken on the issue,” he added.
-Agencies