Wendy Doniger, American scholar and author of the controversial book 'The Hindus: An Alternative History' says she is "angry and disappointed" after Penguin Book India agreed to recall all copies of the book and cease further circulation.
Following Penguin's decision to withdrawl 'The Hindus' after a religious group won a legal battle in court to cease its publication and sale, Doniger issued a statement saying that the Indian law was the 'villain' of the piece as it makes it a criminal rather than a civil offence to publish a book hurting the religious sentiments of a particular group.
"I was, of course, angry and disappointed to see this happen, and I am deeply troubled by what it foretells for free speech in India in the present, and steadily worsening, political climate," Doniger wrote in the statement, reports the Wall Street Journal.
But, she said she believed that it was not that easy to suppress a book in the age of internet. "The Hindus is available on Kindle; and if legal means of publication fail, the Internet has other ways of keeping books in circulation. People in India will always be able to read books of all sorts, including some that may offend some Hindus," Doniger said. She added that she intended to write a longer article on the issue.
A court in New Delhi, capital of India, ordered Penguin to withdraw the book within six months. According to Shiksha Bachao Andolan, the group that filed the complaint against the book said that it hurt the sentiments of Hindus in the way it depicted the gods and goddesses.
In an interview with the Time, Dinanath Batra, president of the group, said, "Her (Doniger) intention is bad, the content is anti-national and the language is abusive. Her agenda is to malign Hinduism and hurt the feelings of Hindus."
The 73-years-old Indologist and a Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago, said that she did not blame publisher Penguin Books India for withdrawing the book. Rather, she stated that Penguin at least made an attempt to save the book while other publishers simply withdraw controversial books.
"Penguin, India, took this book on knowing that it would stir anger in the Hindutva ranks, and they defended it in the courts for four years, both as a civil and as a criminal suit," she continued in her statement.
"They were finally defeated by the true villain of this piece - the Indian law that makes it a criminal rather than civil offence to publish a book that offends any Hindu, a law that jeopardises the physical safety of any publisher, no matter how ludicrous the accusation brought against a book," Doniger said.
