Cultural nadir

BJP must ponder why some of India's finest minds are critical of it and its world view

India’s cultural landscape couldn’t have turned worse. The refusal of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) headed by Pahlaj Nihalani to clear a documentary on Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen (pictured) called The Argumentative Indian until words such as “cow”, “Gujarat”, “Hindutva” and “Hindu Rashtra” are either expunged or beeped out is a telling comment on the state of our polity.

These words are not taboo; they are spoken daily by people and commentators alike. The CBFC is upset, presumably because of Sen’s views on cow vigilantism and concomitant lynchings, the Gujarat riots and the project to spread Hindutva ideology and