Arundhati Roy works among dozens of

 books banned in Indian-administered

 Kashmir

The administration in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, under the auspices of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, has enacted a draconian interdiction on twenty-five scholarly books, including those authored by prominent intellectuals such as the Booker-winning Arundhati Roy. This significant proscription, orchestrated under the aegis of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its overarching polity steered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, purports to counteract a “false narrative and secessionism.” The Home Ministry’s directive accusatorily pronounces that this corpus of literature is purportedly culpable for propagating disquietude and emboldening the cause of secession, ostensibly rendering it inimical to the region’s cohesion.

These proscribed works do not merely constitute ideological tracts but traverse a vast terrain of historical, political, and humanitarian investigation. The censured corpus comprises accounts by eminent academics, historians, and journalists, indigenous and international alike, who delineate the longue durée of Kashmir’s contestations. Several works meticulously document allegations of human rights violations and military excesses, thus providing an incisive historiographical lens into the disputed territory’s tribulations. Notably, Jammu and Kashmir, distinguished as one of the globe’s most militarised landscapes, remains a geopolitical flashpoint, perennially contested by both India and Pakistan since partition’s aftermath.

Among the interdicted volumes are Arundhati Roy’s “Azadi”—a compendium of essays scrutinising enforced disappearances and killings allegedly perpetrated by Indian security forces—and Christopher Snedden’s “Independent Kashmir,” which rigorously explores the region’s trajectory towards autonomy. Complementing these are Hafsa Kanjwal’s “Colonizing Kashmir” and Sumantra Bose’s “Contested Lands,” which transnationally juxtapose Kashmir’s plight with other occupied or divided territories, thereby accentuating the complexity of indigenous resistance and state hegemony. The government imputes these works with fomenting a noxious culture of resentment and, paradoxically, with valorising terrorist actors.

Authors and scholars have responded with trenchant criticism, denouncing the censorship as a calculated manoeuvre to criminalise dissent and circumscribe legitimate academic inquiry. Angana Chatterji, whose collective “Kashmir: The Case for Freedom” also found itself proscribed, asserts that this symbolic interdiction is designed to engender a pervasive climate of fear, isolating the Kashmiri intellectual and social milieu and truncating any articulation of suffering or resistance. From her perspective, the ban constitutes an assault not only on freedom of expression but on historical memory and the polyphony of voices indispensable to democratic discourse.

Since the unilateral abrogation of Kashmir’s erstwhile autonomy in 2019, there has been an intensifying crescendo of measures constraining civil liberties, with the recent proscription emblematic of this broader repressive trajectory. State interventions have encompassed police raids on bookshops, wholesale seizures of literature deemed seditious, and an aggressive campaign to extirpate dissent. Such authoritarian endeavours, critics contend, augur poorly for the preservation of free expression within an already volatile and traumatised polity, rendering Kashmir’s pursuit of self-articulation ever more precarious.

WORDS TO BE NOTED-

1. Draconian – extremely harsh or severe, often relating to laws or measures.

2. Interdiction – the act of prohibiting or forbidding something formally or by authority.

3. Proscription – the act of outlawing or banning something.

4. Aegis – protection, backing, or support of a particular person or organisation.

5. Polity – a form or process of civil government or constitution; an organised society.

6. Purports – claims or professes, often falsely.

7. Culpable – deserving blame or responsibility for a wrong.

8. Disquietude – a state of uneasiness or anxiety.

9. Longue durée – a long-term historical perspective or structure.

10. Tribulations – severe difficulties or suffering.

11. Compendium – a collection of concise but detailed information about a subject.

12. Hegemony – leadership, dominance, or influence, especially by one state or group.

13. Imputes – attributes (responsibility or fault) to someone.

14. Fomenting – instigating or stirring up (unrest or violence).

15. Truncating – shortening by cutting off.

PARA SUMMARY-

The Jammu and Kashmir government, under BJP oversight, has banned 25 books—many by internationally respected authors—asserting they promote secessionism and glorify violence. Works span historical, political, and human rights narratives, documenting the region's troubled past and military presence. Notable volumes include Arundhati Roy’s “Azadi” and academic treatises drawing global parallels with Kashmir. Scholars criticise the ban as a deliberate attempt to suppress dissent, erase uncomfortable histories, and intimidate Kashmiri society. This action follows intensified crackdowns since Kashmir’s autonomy was revoked in 2019, exemplifying an ongoing campaign to silence opposition, restrict academic freedom, and control public memory in the region.

SOURCE- THE GUARDIAN

WORDS COUNT- 450

F.K SCORE- 13