Here is why you shouldn’t support a ban on Manusmriti
I see a lot of online support for VSK party leader and veteran politician Thol. Thirumaavalavan’s speech on the content in the Manusmriti text and his call for bans.
I also see this topic quickly being steered in two directions depending on which side of the political aisle you find yourself. Hey, pick your poison, I don’t care.
But the bottomline — Do not support calls for banning stuff, especially books. Just don’t.
Why you ask? Oh I should be one of the Sanghis, right? I am just dressing my opinion as a well-informed view. Right?
No.
What he did was call for a ‘Ban’ on Manusmiriti. So that makes no sense. How can you possibly get on board with that? You cannot ban every book that is factually wrong or is considered wrong. This is ‘cancel culture’ on steroids. But not for the reasons you think.
VCK calls for State-wide protest demanding ban on Manusmriti
I am not going to give you whatsapp forwards about how the Quran is bad or that the Bible is bad. I mean that will go against what I stand for. Religious freedom is still freedom. As long as we separate church and state. For example, I think ‘The missionary position’ is actually spot on. I loved the book. If you ask a devout christian or a Mother Teresa fan, they might think the book is rubbish. So should we ban the book?
Another example, I don’t like ‘Satanic verses’. Devout Muslims might be offended by it, but… oh wait. Its already banned.
Yet another example — the Da vinci code movie… Well I didn’t watch it honestly. But did it deserve a ban? Apparently it did. Not for being wrong, but for being offensive.
Point is — cancel culture is wrong. Change does not start with thousand year old books — it starts with modernization, globalization, economic equality and more. You want social equality? You still need to achieve all of this and more. There are still some things you can never change.
Oh you are talking about Women empowerment? OK. Hold on. Am I reading this right? Indian political parties, talking about women empowerment?
You mean the DMK guys who literally abused Jayalalitha in the assembly no less? There are multiple accounts as to how this happened, but the fact of the matter was that Jayalalitha to them was a rabbit caught in the headlights. These guys are supporting Thiruma’s comments on ‘Women empowerment’. Really boys?
The BJP guys who have been in the news for all the wrong reasons in a lot of Indian states.. They want women empowerment? Oh man.
Hate speeches made by BJP leaders using ‘fear of rape as campaign message’: Women’s groups to PM
And does anyone here really think Thirumavalavan is really concerned about Women empowerment here? He just coincidentally brought it up during Navraatri? This has nothing to do with the fact that his views have been conveniently Anti-hindu for ages now?
I mean, so…
- He has no intention of provoking the thin-skinned TN BJP
- He has no intention of being the attack dog of the DMK-CPI-MDMK-VCK Alliance…
- He has no intention of raking up news stories and meaningless debates focusing on Hinduism
- He has no gains from how this ‘impacts’ conversions(Note — Thiruma has see-sawed on this, but you get the gist)
- He absolutely wants women empowerment and will go to any lengths, ban any books, go against any organisation, organise protests and give up anything that will bring about a change?
COOL.
Also banning this book will absolutely change everything, right? I mean Indian men totally abide by the laws of Manusmriti. A govt ban in one Indian state will be a game changer. Just as long as they stay within TN-border, which is roughly Munnar, Hosur and Tada. Oh then we better ban inter-state travel. Just in case our men treat women like prostitutes as soon as we cross the border.
We should totally make an ‘Ayyapanum Koshiyum’ with screenplay focused on this. Only instead of Alcohol we should make on women. We do care about our women more than alcohol, right?
Right?!
