The pearls of Katju

What is a good book? Who is a poor writer? Who should you read? The funny thing about literature is that there is no definite answer to these seemingly fundamental questions. Unless,of course,you listen to Justice Markandey Katju.

A man of many parts,with very specific interests in literature and a remarkable diligence when it comes to commenting on issues as varied as Sunny Leone and The Satanic Verses,he put out a statement that Salman Rushdie is “a poor writer” and Midnight’s Children “hardly great literature”. So what if the current debate is about Rushdie’s right to be heard,the alleged weakness of the government and the objections of his critics? The chairman of the Press Council of India perplexingly recuses himself from all these: “I do not wish to get into the controversy whether banning him was correct or not.” This when you would have thought that more than any one,Justice Katju would find it opportune to repeat his beloved Voltaire: “I do not agree with what you have to say,but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” Instead,for his illiterate fellow Indians who suffer from “a colonial inferiority complex”,who think Rushdie is great because he lives on “the ghats of Thames”,Katju gives his choice of writers who could be discussed at festivals: Dickens,Hugo,Flaubert,the great Russians,Upton Sinclair and Neruda. And there would not be any visa issue or video link to worry about.

A person of such prolificity,Justice Katju should no longer rely on old-media paraphernalia as press releases and statements. Nothing,absolutely nothing should hold him back from opening a blog or a Twitter account where he can lavish his remarks on Paine and pleasure and all of us can read him — in full unedited glory. Or start learning to ignore him.