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Saffron Policing at Hyderabad Book Fair

The Saffron Policing at the Hyderabad Book Fair serves as a stark reminder of the growing intolerance toward intellectual freedom and pluralistic discourse in society

Saturday January 4, 2025 1:35 PM, T Navin

[The Hyderabad Book Fair is a harmonious confluence of the country’s long standing tradition of pluralism, with books being sold of varied religions, subjects and ideologies.]

The period following 2014 has seen an increase in saffron policing with their attempts to control what to eat, clothes to wear, where to pray, decisions related to marriage among people of different faiths, what to read, what to watch, whom to listen to etc.

All this happens in the name of being representatives of the majority Hindu religion aiming to protect the majority religion, creating an order in what they believe is a disorder.

In this order of things, the majority religion, as interpreted by the Hindutva forces, represents the real religion. Any moderate, liberal, radical interpretation of religion is automatically considered and termed anti-Hindu and also anti-national.

An extension of this policing act was seen during the Hyderabad Book Fair held from December 19-29, 2024 that happened at the fag end of the fair. The Hyderabad Book Fair has been very popular and has been held since 1985. It attracts publishers from across the country and book lovers in the city visit and buy books.

The Hyderabad Book Fair is a harmonious confluence of the country’s long standing tradition of pluralism, with books being sold of varied religions, subjects and ideologies. It is a real representative of unity in diversity. It provides books of all varieties based on one’s tastes.

On the last day of the 11-day book fair, that is on 29th of December, a person with saffron leanings reached a stall set up by Veekshanam. Veekshanam publishes a monthly magazine in Telugu on people’s issues. Moreover, it also runs a YouTube channel named "Mahua Media". The stall had among its collections books related to literature, research, history, science, education, society, politics and agriculture.

The person with saffron leanings aggressively approached the stall and raised objections on sale of a book titled "Tirupati Balaji: A Buddhist Shrine". The person confronted the owner and editor of Veekshanam. He was of the view that anti-Hindu books were being sold in the stall.

The editor argued that books of all varieties are sold in the fair. Moreover, the book being referred to is not his own published. The stranger asked what the stall owner thinks about Hinduism. The owner of the stall stated that there are also stalls set up by RSS affiliated Sahityan Niketan which sell books criticising Islam, Christianity by Hegdewar, Golwalkar, Savarkar etc. But none are raising objections to the sale of books of a specific type. Objection could be raised only when a particular book is pirated, plagiarized.

The matter did not end here. The person recorded the video and circulated it in the social media associated with Hindutva. The attempt was to start raising a larger debate on what books to be sold and read in the country.

Also Read: Handover Jagannath Temple to Buddhists to 'undo past wrongs'

Such an incident was first of its kind in a book fair. Telugu society has largely been tolerant even to the critiques of religious texts. Ideas of all forms conservatism, rationalism, radicalism have all co-existed.

There has always been a clash of ideas, and the arguments have largely been at the level of ideas.

It was even tolerant to criticism of religious mythologies – Ramayana and Mahabaratha written by writer Ranganayamma from a feminist, rationalist and radical perspective – Ramayana Vishavruksham and Idandi Mahabharatam.

Movies making fun of mythological figures in Telugu movies such as Yama, Chitragupta, Narada, Lord Ganesh are common in popular culture and taken as fun and not as criticism of religion.

The book in question was the one written by Jamanadas. Jamanadas is said to have explored the hypothesis that the famous Tirupati temple, traditionally associated with Lord Venkateswara (Balaji) in Hinduism, has Buddhist origins.

The author is said to have argued that the temple might have been a Buddhist shrine dedicated to Avalokitesvara, a Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism, and later adapted into a Hindu temple.

Venugopal the editor, in his YouTube comments mentioned that the saffron forces who see Buddhism only as part of extension of Hinduism, should not ideally feel disparaged from the same. Hence the reason for such a disparagement was not the book itself, but a series of videos made on Manusmriti. The videos detailing out of texts of Manusmriti stated how it was anti Women, Dalit.

Also Read: Deeper Look: How Muslim rulers aided and built Hindu temples

At a time when the saffron forces want to dig every mosque to find a temple beneath it, a book trying to find a Buddhist origin of a Hindu temple at the level of idea should not worry them. Moreover, there are no calls to affect the current religious structure.

Such incidents by the saffron forces also aim to create lynch mobs drawn around emotions, which instead of using rationality to read, and offer alternative critic of the books get mobilized around the idea of threat to religion and undertake physical attacks on ones considered anti Hindu.

K. Srinivas renowned editor pointed out in one of his posts stating:

“If we can judge a person’s patriotism based on the name of a book, their nationalism or character based on the editor’s name, or the religious bias of a publication based on the name of the stall owner—then why do we even need literature, literary criticism, intellectual discussions, legal processes, or laws?”

This incident at the Hyderabad Book Fair serves as a stark reminder of the growing intolerance toward intellectual freedom and pluralistic discourse in society. The "saffron policing" of books, rooted in emotional mobilization rather than rational debate, undermines the democratic fabric of the nation. It restricts the space for diverse perspectives, stifling the critical engagement essential for a vibrant, progressive society.

Rather than fostering dialogue and critique, such actions seek to impose a singular narrative, eroding the essence of India’s rich and pluralistic literary tradition. It is imperative to safeguard the freedom to read, write, and debate without fear of intimidation or censorship to uphold the values of democracy, diversity, and intellectual inquiry.

[The writer, T Navin, is an independent writer.]

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