What's Hindi for "fatwa"?
State to seek extradition of 'Shivaji' author -- Times of India, March 23
MUMBAI: The controversy over American scholar James Laine's book Shivaji: Hindu king in Islamic India took a new turn on Monday with Maharashtra's home minister and state NCP president R R Patil deciding to seek Interpol's help in arresting and bringing the author to Mumbai.
The book is alleged to contain derogatory references to Chhatrapati Shivaji and his mother Jijamata.....
More about the book here and here.
I have to interpret that this as political grandstanding for the benefit of gullible election-year voters, since it seems extraordinarily unlikely that either Interpol or the US government will cooperate with such a ludicrous demand. What, exactly, is the charge? Allegedly libelling someone who's been dead for centuries? The Indian Prime Minister seems to have resisted the tide of mindless fanaticism for a while, but caved in when the howling of the mob became too loud.
If the United Nations or any of its agencies were ever so foolish as to try to enforce extraterritorial enforcement of purely political actions like this, that would be sufficient reason for the U.S. to immediately withdraw.
Editorial note, afternoon of 3/23: Fiend has quite properly pointed out that "fatwa" applies to Islamic religious rulings in general, not just the notorious assassination edicts against authors like Salman Rushdie. Future use of the word will be more precise.
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Fiend @ 2:28AM | 2004-03-25| permalink
Hmm. The Indian PM certainly seems to be supporting the ban on the book, but that news report doesn't really mention if he has anything to do with calls for extradition.
With respect to his flip-flop on the ban, it was probably a wise move politically (freedom of expression concerns aside); the PM himself might be a "moderate" but his Hindu nationalist party's political agenda is to effect societal change in the form of "Hindutva" (the Hindu religion and Indian culture/society as synonymous). And if the book reviews are accurate ("Islamic India" in the title is probably itself quite the irritant), it might be political suicide for the PM to appear to be endorsing a book that casts aspersions on "Shivaji" (the "father of Hindu nationalism").
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Felix @ 10:49PM | 2004-03-29| permalink
I read the BJP's webpage about "Hindutva", and (Godwin's Law or no Godwin's Law) it reminds me uncomfortably of the "Aryan Culture" propaganda of the Nazis or their modern-day counterparts like the fellow who's been surreptitiously sticking "National Socialist" flyers in books here at the library. Sorry if that offends you.
Obviously the PM is under a lot of political pressure, but I can't toss "freedom of expression concerns" aside lightly.
Considering that the extradition request is likely to be ignored by anyone with any power to act on it, I can't help but see it as mere drum-beating for the benefit of the hyper-nationalistic and the ignorant. A political election-year stunt. At least I hope so.
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