Yes, freedom of speech got stifled once again in the country and to be outraged is more than justified. It’s a shame for any country that vouches (or at least pretends to) to honour its citizens’ right to free speech. However, to conclude that – as Gargi Gupta of the DNA did – “the ban of The Hindus signals a rising intolerance among Hindu fringe groups” sadly does little else than trivialising what is a much greater issue (The usage of the word “ban” is incorrect). The above quote is hardly an isolated one – in fact it reiterates what has been the essential essence of the “liberal” discourse on the subject. In a column in the Mumbai Mirror, author Arshia Sattar wrote “Penguin has succumbed to the undercurrents that encourage us to censor ourselves even before we are asked”. While Sattar’s ire, in all fairness, is directed at the book’s publisher Penguin, her reference to the “undercurrents that encourage us to censor” leaves very little to the imagination as to what she thinks the “undercurrent” is. Meena Kandasamy, a poet I admire as much for her unbridled commitment to social issues as for her body of work, also echoed the same sentiments in a tweet.