Shobhaa De | The General In His Literary Labyrinth... So, What Now?

Books are not bombs. Poems are not bullets. What are you afraid of, censors? Something foul is afoot. This is about former Army chief Gen. M.M Naravane’s unpublished book (Four Stars of Destiny), which is causing mayhem across the country. All hell broke loose after an extract was boldly and bravely published by Caravan in the magazine’s Security/Essay section. The much-decorated Gen. Manoj Mukund Naravane (Retd), the author of two other books, was Chief of the Army Staff between December 2019 and April 2022.

The rules restrict retired officers from publishing classified information, under the sweeping Official Secrets Act. Regulations for publishing secret content require prior government clearance. Never one to lose a golden opportunity to embarrass his bete noire, the BJP, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi defiantly flashed a printed copy of the book the government insists doesn’t exist, before quoting from an excerpt carried by Caravan. “Rahul has made it a habit to demoralise the armed forces,” thundered BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, while parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju warned Rahul to stop “speaking the language of anti-India elements”.

Rahul was also accused of “defying the Chair’’. It didn’t stop there. Subsequently, eight Opposition MPs, including seven from the Congress, were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Budget Session: it was the first such suspension of MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi continued his tirade against Prime Minister Narendra Modi even after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey pointed out that Rahul’s own party had not allowed Army generals like K.M. Cariappa or V.K. Singh to write potentially explosive memoirs. Unruly, disruptive conduct followed -- the usual scripted protest that saw Opposition MPs rushing to the Well of the House, tearing up papers and raising slogans. By 3 pm, the humiliating suspension was enforced by a determined Rijiju.

“This is a blot on our democracy”, responded a miffed Rahul as he recorded his “strongest protest” via a letter to the Speaker.

So much for that unparliamentary, over-dramatic hungama and hulla gulla.

The man with the unpublished memoir has been on the lit fest circuit recently, attracting crowds and talking soberly to supporters and fans in the audience -- regular book lovers and readers -- not hired, flag-waving cheerleaders of any political party. Unsurprisingly, the retired general has been attracting a full house at some of the country’s most prestigious lit fests. Since we were both invited to the same fests, it was inevitable that our paths crossed at different venues, from Dehradun to Vadodara. We met briefly in various authors’ lounges, and it is my loss that we couldn’t grab more time together. There were so many questions I had for him! But that is the nature of the beast these days. Authors are assigned well-briefed minders (at the Vadodara lit fest, they were called “shadows”), who take their jobs very seriously, functioning more like bouncers and security guards, frequently obstructing writers from interacting with readers. I am not sure if this is by design, but there is no free movement these days, minus vigilant watchdogs.

A close friend overheard a belligerent police officer talking to a worried organiser about a Bangladeshi writer whose session was expected to attract sizeable crowds. “Session ko bandh karwa doon?”, asked the cop eagerly. The organiser replied hesitantly: “Nahin, nahin. Par extra bandobast organise karo”.

I noticed that at a few lit fests, big-ticket non-resident desi writers carefully screened the crowd and actively avoided interacting with known right-wingers. “I don’t want to be in a photograph with that person”, a highly reputed author told me (Errr… I’m more than happy to flaunt my pic with Gen. Navarane). It’s disheartening that nobody is willing to discuss “sensitive” issues, even informally. Self-censorship has never been this obvious! News TV channels doing author interviews routinely edit out anything that is potentially “dangerous” to the carefully curated official narrative. At the Kolkata Book Fair (Boi Mela), I talked to a local anchor about the glaring absence of hugely popular writers from Bangladesh. I also mentioned the substantial loss of revenue this year, with 25-30 publishers/ booksellers from Bangladesh pulling out of the fair. Over the years, it was their stalls that attracted the biggest crowds. My quotes on this glaring vacuum and unfortunate omission at the fair were missing in the clips that aired.

The troubling question is not about the general’s unpublished book, patiently awaiting official clearance while languishing with his publishers (Penguin Random House). It’s much bigger than any one individual or book. It’s not even about Bangladeshi authors either opting out or not getting visas to attend lit fests and book fairs in India. It is about the environment.

At Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Festival, a discussion titled “Incarcerated: Tales from behind bars” was abruptly cancelled by the police. Activist Anand Teltumde, Neeta Kolhatkar and others were taken aback to see the posters being pulled down. Participants were asked to delete posts… or else. The Mumbai police threatened to shut down the entire festival, leaving the organisers with little choice but to hastily withdraw the session. Ironically, the Maharashtra police are listed as “supporters” of the festival. I so wish Brinda Miller, the dynamic festival director, had issued a statement and taken a stand expressing solidarity with Teltumde.

A literary Urdu Jalsa co-organised by the Urdu department of the University of Mumbai featuring Naseeruddin Shah was similarly cancelled. “Preet Nagar”, tracing the progressive tradition of Urdu literature, was abruptly shut down without prior notice. It was claimed the actor had opted out -- a claim the actor insists is an outright lie. No reasons were given to him for withdrawing the invitation at the last minute.

Writers are soft targets, almost heart-breakingly vulnerable. So are poets, painters and filmmakers. Living in such a vitiated environment is bad for the soul. Paranoia hurts creativity. Our moral outrage should be aimed at the pamphleteers and propagandists -- lawbreakers who parade as lawmakers. Why pick on those who are armed with nothing more lethal than words and images?

I mentioned this to a New York-based desi person who works with sensitive agencies worldwide. “The environment is the same across the US! Events get cancelled. Nobody opens their mouths. Lips are sealed. So are ears.” There is widespread distrust, to the extent that communication on even seemingly innocuous subjects is restricted to non-committal, truncated exchanges. Text messages rarely go beyond polite greetings. Opinion is now a bad word.

In Trumpland, everyone is a suspect. Let’s hope it never comes to that in Mera Bharat Mahaan!