Reports of the Central Board of Film Certification recommending the beeping out of words like "cow", "Hindutva", "Hindu India" or (and this takes the cake) "Gujarat" from a documentary on Amartya Sen, or making a filmmaker remove references to "Ramrajya" or "bandh" in a feature film which references Michael Madhusudan Dutt, can be dismissed as the work of individuals all too eager to suck up to the powers-that-be.


The very ham-handedness of such acts prevents them from being taken seriously. Similarly, the cynical use of instant outrage by politicians and political parties can be opposed and challenged, using the tools of reason and logic. So far, so good.


But we are now witnessing the birth and consolidation of another kind of discourse, one that comes to us in deceptively attractive garb, claiming to speak for the greatest good of the greatest number of the denizens of India. Read more