Fundamental differences?

The ever-readable Salil Tripathi, in his column in India’s Mint, points us to a disturbing story in Mumbai. The university there has withdrawn a book by renowned author Rohinton Mistry after a member of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena group complained it was offensive to his party.

…Rajan Waulkar, vice-chancellor of Mumbai University became the poster child of acquiescence to bullying when he hastily withdrew Mistry’s acclaimed previous novel Such A Long Journeyusing his emergency powers, after an undergraduate student aspiring for political leadership of the Shiv Sena’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, complained that the book made disparaging remarks against his party and his people. His claim to lead the youth wing rests on what he considers his inherent birthright—he is born in the Thackeray family.

Such A Long Journey is a thoughtful narrative about the scarcity-prone India at the cusp of the Bangladesh war of 1971, when Gustad Noble, a bank clerk, gets enmeshed in a conspiracy to assist the Mukti Bahini, the India-backed armed group fighting for Bangladesh’s freedom. He is brought to the shadowy world by an old acquaintance who is an intelligence officer, loosely based on the life of Rustom Nagarwala, who allegedly imitated prime minister Indira Gandhi’s voice and got a State Bank of India officer to hand him Rs. 60 lakh after the phone call, ostensibly for Bangladesh’s liberation.

The junior-most Thackeray’s complaint is vague, and political analysts might see his grandstanding as part of his desire (and his father Uddhav’s desire) to regain political ground, ever since Uddhav’s bête noire, his cousin Raj Thackeray, began wolfing down the Shiv Sena’s jhunka bhakar through his party, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Salil points out an uncomfortable truth for fundamentalists:

Hindu nationalists get riled when they are compared with Muslim leaders declaring fatwas. But the difference between those who want Such A Long Journey or Breathless in Bombay banned and the clerics who hate Rushdie—and the cartoonists of Jyllands-Posten—is marginal. Their threats chill free speech.

Read the full article here

UAE: BlackBerry ban suspended

A UAE regulator has withdrawn its threat to suspend BlackBerrys mobile communication services. In August, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said it would ban BlackBerry’s messenger, e-mail and web-browser services on October 11.  It claimed BlackBerry’s use of internal encrypted networks raised national security concerns. Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian maker of BlackBerry entered negotiations and the regulator has now determined that Blackberry has become “compliant” with UAE law. RIM has refused to specify any of their concessions. They are thought to have granted some access to communications passed between devices to the government. The authorities in India, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Lebanon have expressed similar reservations.

Sarkozy calls for web censorship

In a recent visit to the Pope, President of France Nicolas Sarkozy remarked that greater regulation of the internet was needed.  President Sarkozy stated that “regulating the internet to correct the excesses and abuses that arise from the total absence of rules is a moral imperative” while making a speech to the Embassy of France to the Holy See.

This pronouncement is not the first indication of the President’s aim of regulating the internet. He described internet piracy as “looting” in a speech made while visiting Jean-Baptiste Corot.  Critics say President Sarkozy’s desire to regulate the internet is born out of fear and a desire for control.

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