https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Book_censorship_in_IndiaBook censorship in India - Revision history2026-11-01T23:27:32ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Book_censorship_in_India&diff=476841&oldid=prevSujata Gopali: Added new info basic info2025-05-03T22:28:38Z<p>Added new info basic info</p>
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'''Book censorship in India''' has existed at least since the British period, and several books remain banned by the central and state governments.<br />
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Books [[Criticism of religion|criticizing]] major religions of India, as well as books supposedly portraying national figures including [[Mahatma Gandhi|Gandhi]] and [[Jawaharlal Nehru|Nehru]] in a bad light continue to remain banned.<br />
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== History ==<br />
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=== British period ===<br />
{{Empty section|date=January 2021}}<br />
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=== Post Independence ===<br />
During the 1960s, following the [[Sino-Indian War|Sino-Indian war]], Chinese books and magazines were banned.<ref name=":0" /><br />
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Beginning in 1975, India banned ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong]]''.<ref name=":2323">{{Cite book |last=Chakrabarti |first=Sreemanti |title=Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History |date=2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-05722-7 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Alexander C. |location=Cambridge |pages= |chapter=Empty Symbol: The Little Red Book in India}}</ref>{{Rp|page=|pages=118, 127}}<br />
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After protests by Muslims and a petition by [[Syed Shahabuddin]] to the Rajiv Gandhi government, [[The Satanic Verses controversy|''The Satanic Verses'']] was banned in 1988, with India becoming the first country to ban the book.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Roy |first=Nilanjana S. |date=2006-05-30 |title=Nilanjana S Roy: Banned books in India: 1970s-2006 |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/nilanjana-s-roy-banned-books-in-india-1970s-2006-106053001122_1.html |access-date=2021-01-25 |work=Business Standard India}}</ref><br />
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== Topics ==<br />
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=== Religious ===<br />
Many books in India are or were banned for disagreeing with Islam and Hinduism's teachings.<ref name="Scoopwhoop">{{cite web |last1=Bhattacharya |first1=Rohit |title=10 Books That Were Banned In India For Various Reasons |url=https://www.scoopwhoop.com/inothernews/books-banned-in-india/ |website=scoopwhoop |access-date=26 January 2021}}</ref><br />
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=== Political ===<br />
Many books in India were banned for criticizing India and its government or political systems.<ref name="Scoopwhoop" /><br />
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=== Historical ===<br />
Books were banned for criticizing [[Gandhi]] and other important Indian historical figures.<ref name="Scoopwhoop" /><br />
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=== Obscenity ===<br />
''The Scented Garden: Anthropology of the Sex Life in the Levant'' was banned due to sexually explicit content.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Roy|first=Nilanjana S.|date=2006-05-23|title=Banned in India: The 1930s-1960s|work=Business Standard India|url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/banned-in-india-the-1930s-1960s-106052301151_1.html|access-date=2021-01-25}}</ref><br />
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== List of banned books ==<br />
{{main|List of books banned in India}}<br />
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== See also ==<br />
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* ''[[The Calcutta Quran Petition]]''<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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[[Category:Book censorship in India|*]]</div>Sujata Gopali