The Modern Language Association (MLA) has condemned censorship and suppression of ideas, with a specific reference in its preamble to writer Perumal Murugan and Indologist Wendy Doniger.

In a statement released by the Association — a body of language scholars across the world — it condemned “both the censorship of work treating controversial religious subjects and physical threats directed at the authors of such work.”

Naming recent instances of attacks on writers, the MLA mentioned the harassment of Tamil novelist Perumal Murugan and University of Chicago Indologist Wendy Doniger in its preamble.

Urging its members to support scholars and writers such as Doniger and Murugan “whose freedoms have been threatened or denied,” the MLA reiterated its commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech.

In January this year, Hindutva and caste outfits hounded writer Perumal Murugan, attacking him for his novel Madhorubhagan, forcing him to give up writing altogether.

The issue sparked an intense debate on freedom of expression in the country.

On the MLA’s statement, historian and Tamil writer A.R. Venkatachalapathy said it was a very important step from a premier academic body in the United States.

“The institute is a premier body not just for languages, but for humanities as a whole. Such an institute naming Murugan, an Indian, specifically is very significant,” he said, adding that it was a contrast to the “supine culture” of academic bodies in India. India’s aspiration of becoming a global soft power depended on the image it projected in the international intellectual arena, according to Prof. Venkatachalapathy.