Satanic Verses vs.. Jinnah: India – Partition – Independence!
Both the books Satanic verses and Jinnah : India -Partition-Independence are controversial but they have created a different impact on their authors.
Satanic verses was a famous novel written in the year 1988, by Salman Rushdie and the book Jinnah : India – Partition -Independence was written by a veteran politician Jaswant Singh of BJP, a former minister of India in the BJP Government.
Both these books are different;while Satanic verses is a novel, the Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence is a historical work ; Hence they differ from each other, but they have one thing in common; both are marred by controversies.They have created a different impact on the respective authors; while the former had posed a threat on the life of its author, the latter has caused the eclipse of the political career of its author.
Satanic verses:
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The book relied upon the life history of Muhammad and based on the real life characters like Amitabh Bachchan and a lit bit of Rama Rao.No sooner the book was published and released in the year 1988, than it fell like an atomic bomb in the Islamic world causing devastating consequences.The theme of the book was considered as blasphemes against the teachings of Prophet. In Pakistan a riot was broken out against the book. In the year 1989,in Iran, the then temporal ruler Ayatollah Khomeini issued a Fatwa against Salman Rushdie to kill him.Though Khomeini was dead still the Fatwa is in force because, a Fatwa can be withdrawn or revised only by the person who issued it. In India, respecting the opinion of the Muslim people, the book was banned.
However, unmindful of the consequences of the Fatwa and the violent reaction against the book in the Islamic world, Salman Rushdie took asylum in England. The book was even considered for the Booker Prize and it received many other rewards.
But true to its title, Satanic Verses caused a lot of bloodshed, leading to the death of many people by mass murders who were involved in the publishing and selling the book.
Jinnah : India-Partition-Independence :
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It is a recent book written and published by the veteran BJP leader Jaswant Singh. Some of the contents of the book are controversial. For example, it eulogized Pakistan’s Jinnah ignoring the fact that he was the prime mover and largely responsible for the partition of India. Besides, adding insult to the injury, the book has also undermined the role of Sardar Vallabai Patel, the first home minister of India, who was primarily responsible for the integration of various princely states into the Dominion of India.
Hence the book evoked an instant furor among the BJP leaders; they met in Simla and expelled Jaswant Singh even from the primary membership of the BJP unable to brook the controversial remarks contained in the book against Jinnah and Sardar Vallabhai Patel;BJP leaders have considered it as a violation of their party ideology and discipline.The expulsion move was supported by the BJP president as well as by other senior leaders of the BJP including L.K.Advani; the RSS has also supported this move.
Gujarat government, headed by Narendra Modi of BJP, has banned the book from selling or circulating in any form of it.
Even though both Satanic verses and Jinnah : India-Partition-Independence are controversial works, while the former has caused the death of many precious lives including a life threat on Salman Rushdie, the latter work though did not cause any loss of lives, it has seriously undermined the political career of a person who was one of the founder member of the BJP and associated with it for more than 30 years.It has also seriously affected the future of BJP.
Finally a word about Jinnah: He not only partitioned India but also partitioned BJP!
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User Comments
ken bultman
On August 21, 2009 at 7:33 am
Interesting insight into Indian politics.
Jenny Heart
On August 21, 2009 at 8:03 am
I agree with Ken. Well written!
chitragopi
On August 21, 2009 at 8:26 am
Satanic Verses is an extended metaphor and yes both the books have created controversy. Well written.
ladybaby
On August 21, 2009 at 9:43 am
How a book can become so powerful as to cause bloodshed. Wow.
Uma Shankari
On August 21, 2009 at 10:01 am
Excellent work. Very interesting…out to be in the hot content. Enjoyed every bit of it.
Heatherhills
On August 21, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Indian poliitics can be difficult to understand as an outsider. Well written.
kathie107
On August 21, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Well written.
Ruby Hawk
On August 21, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Doesn’t it speak badly of us all to be so aroused by a book. Sometimes I despair of us all.
Daisy Peasblossom
On August 22, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Good article; a clear demonstration that words have power, and we should be careful how we speak or write.
TRUTH FINDER
On September 7, 2009 at 6:54 am
THE HINDU NATIONALISTS ALWAYS POTRAYED JINNAH AS VILLAN. MORE RESEARCH HAS TO BE DONE ABOUT HIM AND HE SHOULD BE GIVEN BENEFIT OF DOUBT.
Azeem
On September 17, 2009 at 1:09 am
comparing these two books is like comparing a book of Physics and Sociology, it is unfair to compare them. satanic verses is blasphemes, a novel with fictitious characters, in an imaginary world, written by a sick mind on the other side the book on Jinnah is based on historical facts and references written by a erudite; And your concluding remarks, pardon my words, are foolish.
Reaction of fundamentalist Hindus to this book only shows that Two-Nation theory is very much alive and prevalent in the sub-continent. Today our beloved leader, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, has resurfaced all over India, over shadowing Gandhi, Nehru and Patel. Every news channel, every newspaper and every intellectual is discussing him as a man of remarkably great and exceptionally outstanding character. you should read my article in this regard for more enlightenment, http://socyberty.com/politics/two-js-jaswant-and-jinnah/
Southgate
On September 17, 2009 at 5:01 am
To Azeem; The two works have been compared only for the impact they had created in the countries in which they were published; the loss of lives that they had caused and the political effects that they had on any political party; and to show what happened to the respective authors;both books were different; I have categorically stated in para No.2 of the article, while Satanic verses was a novel, the Jinnah and.. was a historical works.The purpose of my article was not to analyse the books or eulogise the personalities or characters of the respective books and add fuel to the raging fire but only to show what happened to the respective writers when they exercised their freedom to write.
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