Author: Shubhadeep Choudhury
Publication: The Tribune
Date: September 8, 2006
URL: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060908/haryana.htm#1
Close on the heels of the controversy sparked
off by two NCERT history books in Haryana, timely action by the state government
has scuttled the possibility of unrest on account of another book.
The government has decided to ban a book on
Mahatma Gandhi, written by Anand Prakash Madan of Panchkula, for remarks made
in it about the Father of the Nation.
Madan's book, ''Mahatma Gandhi - A Curse for
Bharat'', is in the nature of propaganda material and should under no circumstances
be compared with the NCERT books written by historians of some repute.
In the latter books some observations were
made about the nature of the Jat rebellion in North India at the fag end of
Mughal rule. The Opposition INLD twisted the strictly academic exercise suitably
to corner the state government, which fell into the trap rather easily.
Madan's book, on the other hand, is full of
invectives against the Mahatma and can well qualify for a textbook for the
training of Hindu fanatics. The title of the book, brought out by a Delhi-based
publisher, is itself suggestive of the contents and so is the cover. The word
Mahatma is defaced by a red line cutting right through the word to show that
Madan did not agree with the appellation given to Gandhiji by Tagore. Gandhiji
is portrayed as anti-Hindu while Jinnah gets a pat on the back from the writer
for being a "reasonable man". Nehru, too, is not spared and is written
off as a dandy.
The government, "after carefully going
through the book", has come to the conclusion that it contains "objectionable
and derogatory" remarks against Mahatma Gandhi and "tends to promote
feelings of enmity, hatred and ill-will between different communities".
The government has found the publication an
offence under Section 153-A of the IPC. The government, in exercise of powers
under sub-section (1) of Section 95 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973,
has decided that every copy of the book in Haryana will be forfeited with
immediate effect.
A notification in this regard is being issued
tomorrow. It is not really too bad for the writer, who may actually have written
the book only to get himself some publicity. What he may not have bargained
for is a police case, which is going to be registered by the Panchkula police
against him soon.
