attacks on Bhandarkar Institute & S. Bahulkar

[Mi. Witzel]

The Hindu's News update: 1/5/04
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00405183011.htm

Regional
Maharashtra: Mob ransacks research institute, 70 held
Pune, Jan. 5. (PTI): An angry mob allegedly owing allegiance to "Sambhaji
Brigade" of Maratha Mahasangh, `destroyed' thousands of rare manuscripts
and other priceless articles at the acclaimed Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute here, to protest 'disparaging' remarks by a foreign author about
Chhatrapati Shivaji, police said.
Seventy people were arrested in this connection and charged under various
sections of IPC, police said adding that the mob also took away several
rare books.
A mob of about 150 people came in vehicles and barged into the institute,
snapped telephone lines, ransacked the cupboards, tore thousands of books
and badly damaged writings on palm leaves, rare artefacts and old
photographs.
The mob was protesting against objectionable remarks by author James Lane,
renowned Maratha warrior Chhatrapathi Shivaji in his book 'Shivaji: Hindu
King in Islamic India'.
It damaged the Mahabhartiya department, manuscript department, publication
department and Postgraduate Teaching and research of the institute, founded
on July 6, 1917 to commemorate the work of Ramkrishna Gopal Bhandarkar.
The mob also damaged computers, xerox machines, furniture, reference index
cards and several things having priceless value.

In detail: http://ww1.mid-day.com/news/city/2004/january/73054.htm  (with
photo of destruction)

cf:  http://www.indiaexpress.com/news/regional/maharashtra/20040105-0.html

Luckily, I filmed some of  their MSS years ago, when they still allowed that...
Such restrictions always work against the institution that imposes them:  QED

=========

See further on S. Bahulkar's minimal help for Lane and the recent,
resultant attack (blackening Bahulkar's face) by Shiv Sena:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/385627.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/385626.cms

Quote: "not a single scholar or professor in the  University  of  Pune
condemned the attack on Bahulkar. "
-- clearly inviting more violence (as above)

==========

It should be clear now why Motilal (recently)  and now Oxford Univ. Press
(India)  have chickened out:

Threats, physical violence and censureship are thriving...

(Remember the OUP resistance against NCERT's scrapping  of 2 books on the
struggle for independence? Or the more recent case of banning DN Jha's
'Holy Cow'?)

Happily, now I (and others) can also expect to get my face blackened
because I sent Jha some information, on his request...   "Bring them on!"

MW