Four years after US author James W Laine’s Epic of Shivaji hit the stands, the state government on Monday banned it citing law and order problems it could pose due to its contents. A communique issued by the publicity office of Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader R R Patil says that the government has taken a ‘‘serious view of the book and come concluded that it could spark off social instability’’. Two years ago, the government had banned Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India following public outcry. Epic of Shivaji has been banned on exactly the same grounds, viz. it contains insulting remarks against Shivaji’s parents and has been written in ‘‘bad taste’’ born out of the author’s and his colleagues’ ‘‘prejudice’’ towards the warrior king, who has an iconic stature in Maharashtra. The move, coming from the NCP-held Home Ministry and without Cabinet discussion, has raised a few eyebrows. On January 5 2004, before the first book was banned, the Shambhaji Brigade, youth wing of the Maratha Mahasangh—and outfit close to the NCP—had attacked the Pune-based Bhandarkar Institute of Oriental Research (BORI). Their grouse was that the scholars of BORI had helped Laine in his research for the book. Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and R R Patil could not be contacted for comment. Epic of Shivaji, actually Laine’s first book on Shivaji, was available all these years, but apparently the government did not know of it. Never during these four years, has there been a single incident of protest over or a demand for banning it. It was published by Orient Longman in 2001.The other book banned by the Sushil Kumar Shinde government in January 2004 was published by the Oxford University Press, India, in June 2003. History of bans • In June 2003, Oxford University Press, India, published a book Shivaji: Hindu King In Islamic India authored by Laine with assistance from BORI scholars. • In November 2003, BORI itself demanded withdrawal of the book from the market as it was ‘‘written in bad taste’’. • On November 21, the OUP apologised for the book and withdrew it. • On January 14, 2004, the Maharashtra government banned the book. • On January 16, the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee opposed the ban. He was supported by Advani.
