National

Quick On The Draw

The slightest provocation and out comes a ban

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Quick On The Draw
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Senthil Mallar, a writer who advances the claim that the Scheduled Caste Pallars were the original rulers of Tamil Nadu, has gone undergr­ound after the state government banned his book—Meendezhum Pandiyar Varalaar (Resurgence of Pandian History)—and charged him with sedition. Senthil is a Pallar, but prefers not to be des­cribed as a Dalit—only as a sch­olar. He says his book is based on res­earch and that his critics haven’t countered his evidence; their blunt opposition is driven by the need to maintain existing hierarchies. But the book has been dubbed casteist and his Dalit assertion is seen as a simplistic attempt to distort history. The sedition charge is more serious: he can be jailed for anything between three years and life.

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Senthil is not the only one who has faced such a curb. Amina Wadood, an American scholar of Islam, was prevented from speaking at the University of Madras. The university authorities rece­ived an SMS demanding that the lecture be called off. Faced with the threat of protests by conservative Muslim groups, the university backed off. Wadood was not allowed to speak.

More recently, Thalaivaa, a film starring popular actor Vijay, finds itself facing an uncertain future. A group cal­l­ing itself the Tamil Nadu Oppressed Students Revolutionary Force has all­eged that students were exploited during the film-making and that the producers have evaded tax. And last year, Dam 999 was banned as it was thought it had the potential to create problems between two states. Kamalahaasan’s Vish­wa­roopam, which did not go down well with some Muslim groups, faced protests. In about a year and a half, Tamil Nadu has earned the dubious distinction of probably being the  state with the most bans.

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In Tamil Nadu, politics, cinema and writing have always had close links. Actors and actresses have had political careers; film-writers, too, have been active in politics. But despite its rationalist protestations, Dravidian politics seems to have fostered an obdurate illiberalism. This provides a potent mix of caste, religion and polarisation as a backdrop to the 2014 elections. Under chief minister J. Jayalalitha, the state has time and again buckled under pressure from splinter groups saying they are offended by this or that. The state has resp­onded all too easily with bans. Veteran commentator S. Murari says, “We are seeing police raj in the state as caste-based and religious groups have started asserting themselves. At the slightest pretext, they rush to protest. These groups are all jostling for power.”

Says Khushboo, actress-activist and one of the visible faces of the DMK, the main opposition party, “These protests are by groups who just seize an opportunity when they see one and scramble to be in the limelight. They disappear after their objective is fulfilled.” As for the unofficial “temporary ban” on Thalaivaa, she says, “There’s lack of clarity on the status of the film. The director and the producer have been unable to explain their position. As I understand it, the film was cleared by the review committee of the censor board with a few cuts and a U certificate was granted.” In fact, because of the film-makers not speaking up, rumours abound. The lack of openness has also led to the view that the political leanings of the lead actor and his father (towards the Congress) are the reason the state is doing little to ensure that law and order prevails and that a film cleared by the censor board is allowed to be screened.

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Khushboo also speaks up for Senthil. “Why is the academic community across the country not speaking up for him? Why are writers not speaking up for his right to express himself?” she asks. “Why should the issue of freedom of expression be confined to one state?” Khushboo herself had faced trouble, in 2005, for speaking her mind: all she had said was that it was okay for young women to have premarital sex provided they took care to protect themselves against unwanted pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases.

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