Need for freedom to question religious beliefs: S L Bhyrappa


By Bhaskar Sarma

Jaipur, Jan 19 (PTI) Celebrated Kannada writer S L Bhyrappa has pitched for scrapping laws that forbid offending the religious feelings of any community, saying that there must be freedom to question other peoples beliefs.

The writer, who had earlier kicked up a controversy in the past by accusing Tipu Sultan of being a religious fanatic, said such laws were created by the British, and were being wrongly used by the governments, claiming it led to a ban on Salman Rushdies Satanic Verses.

He made the remarks while speaking about the banning of books and writings that offend religious feelings at a session during the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.

Citing instances when Rushdies book was banned or late scholar and linguistic A K Ramanujans essay on 300 Ramayanas was dropped from Delhi Universitys History syllabus, Bhyrappa said people should be allowed to be critical of a particular religion, if it is done through logical and not emotional arguments.

"The best example of tolerance is Indian soil. But what happened was the (Indian) government started using the law which the British made. The best way is to remove that law.

"All discussions should be academic. The government can only say you have every right to criticise any religion. Only thing is use logical not emotional arguments," he said.

The the 85-year-old writer also seemed to suggest that the Sati system was a result of women trying to escape the clutches of "Islamic invaders" by taking their own lives.

"Sati system was not present in the Indian culture. Even in the story of Sati, she killed herself, not on her husbands pyre, but as a protest against his ill treatment by Daksha," he said.

Talking about sexual violence against women and the restrictions imposed on them, Bhyrappa said there must be a "cultural change" in the mindsets of men, who he claimed "were naturally more aggressive than women".

Talking about his books, he said he attempts to reinterpret the mythological works in a "humanistic manner" in his writing. (MORE) PTI BSA TRS GSN BK

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