CENSORSHIP IN INDIA

Abstract

READERS OF THE TIMES EDUCA TIONAL SUPPLEMENT OF 9 SEPTEMBER 1977 may have noticed a report by its correspondent in India which drew attention to an attempt by certain politicians to persuade the government to censor a number of historical writings. One of the books concerned is Medieval India by Romila Thapar, whose important article Aioka and Buddhism appeared in Past and Present, no. 18 (November I960). Professor Thapar is well known in this country for her volume I of the Pelican History of India, a work of admirable perception and balance. The other works threatened with censorship are Modern India by Bipan Chandra (Head of the Centre of Historical Studies at the Jawarhalal Nehru University, New Delhi); Freedom Struggle by Amles Tripathi, Barun De (Director of the Calcutta Centre for the Social Sciences) and Bipan Chandra; and Communalism and the Writing of Indian History by Romila Thapar, Harbans Mukhia and Bipan Chandra. The criticism, which was anonymously forwarded to the Prime Minister, is apparently inspired by Hindu communalism, objections being made to an alleged favourable treatment of some of the Moghul rulers and to an alleged critical attitude to the Hindu communalist element in the modern independence movement. This is reinforced by crude hints about a communist conspiracy. Writers in several Indian newspapers have responded, in our view convincingly, to the specific accusations made against these historians. In addition they point out that the general standpoint of the critics is based on a complete ignorance of the development of historical studies in the past thirty years or so away from gossip about rulers and prominent individuals and towards an analysis of the dynamics of economic, social and political change. The episode would be trivial, even ridiculous, had not the Minister of Education been advised in a letter from the Prime Minister's office that consideration should be given to the withdrawal of the books from circulation. As far as we know this has not yet been done. In view of the protests made by the present Indian Government against repressive measures by its predecessor, we hope that it will not proceed any further against the freedom of serious historians to present to the Indian public the results of their researches. Chairman, Editorial Board R. H. Hilton