In a pandal, you overturn a table of books only if you can't argue against them

The attacks on bookstalls of the Left during this year's Durga Puja have revealed the difference between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's confidence in its power and its confidence in its ideas

A bookstall is modest: A few tables, books arranged by volunteers, someone who knows which pamphlet might interest a passing reader. It has become part of our culture in West Bengal that during Durga Puja, bookstalls are set up near pandals so that visitors can glance at them and buy something to nourish their minds and souls. The attacks on bookstalls of the Left during this year's Durga Puja has revealed the difference between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's confidence in its power and its confidence in its ideas. You would only overturn a table of books if you do not know how to argue against them.

The CPI(M) has approached the Calcutta High Court over an alleged attempt by the police and municipal authorities to remove its temporary stall in Jadavpur, while several Left parties have evidence of vandalism at several locations. Finance Minister Swapan Dasgupta said that he hangs his head in shame at these attacks because they go against the general culture of intellectualism in West Bengal. But hanging his head is insufficient, since a genuine condemnation by a sitting minister should produce consequences. Expressions of embarrassment cannot substitute for the government's obligation to defend basic democratic rights.

Festivals of Learning

The bookstalls bring political literature into the everyday life of Durga Puja. A family comes to visit the pandals and encounters a history of the working-class movement, a novel, or a pamphlet about unemployment. The encounter between the family and the printed word requires neither party membership nor agreement with the ideas. It is an opportunity to browse, to argue, to buy a book, or to walk away, the ordinary freedom of the festivals that such intimidation by the attacks seeks to destroy.

The anti-intellectualism of the BJP, as the leader of the far right in India, has a political purpose. It seeks to interrupt the process from experience to explanation, from a worker knowing that wages are inadequate or a young person knowing the humiliation of unemployment to learning about the structures of exploitation. The communal politics of the BJP seeks to silence this political education and redirect the resulting anger towards a neighbour, a religious minority, or an invented internal enemy. A bookstall becomes dangerous for the far right because it asks questions (Who owns the wealth? Who performs the labour?) that the owners of property would rather be put out of reach

Red Books Day

Since 2020, the International Union of Left Publishers has held a global celebration of the joy of reading called Red Books Day. It is held on February 21, the date that marks the anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto in 1848 and International Mother Language Day. On Red Books Day, millions of people gather in public to read any red book, defend radical books, and celebrate their publishers.

Reading in public in this way creates a particular kind of collective life. The books are read and discussed; the experiences brought to the reading circle unsettle easy interpretations. We celebrate reading because reading is the doorway to knowledge, rationality, and a better society of humans. The process of reading together allows people to acquire confidence in their capacity to understand the world and to change their circumstances.

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For those of us on the Left, we welcome the circulation of ideas and arguments about our ideas to see if they withstand scrutiny. We do not believe in burning down bookstalls or destroying libraries. After the October Revolution in 1917, Lenin was asked if the old libraries should be burnt, and he said no. For Lenin, the entire corpus of past knowledge, even by conservatives and others, helped humans to enrich our minds "with a knowledge of all the treasures created by humankind". The entire set of traditions of thought -- including those with which we disagree -- must remain alive and help us to bring the totality of human insights into our current struggles to overcome suffering.

The Joy of Reading

We are against banning books, and we are against burning books. We want books to be read, and people to flourish in the process. The response to the attacks in West Bengal should extend beyond condemnation. We hope that trade unions, student organisations, cultural associations, and neighbourhood groups will go out into the streets and create a Red Books Day in solidarity with the bookstalls of the Durga Puja. We need not wait till February but can create a Red Books Day to express our commitment to ideas of emancipation. More stalls, more translations, more reading circles, more arguments conducted without fear. Build the stalls again, then build another one, then invite everyone to read.

Prashad is the Chief Editor of LeftWord Books (New Delhi), which has just published Joe Sacco's The Once and Future Riot about the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riot