PVLF 2025

List of 5 Books Banned in India

on Sep 19, 2022

Books are doors to other worlds that reflect our reality. Many books are often banned in countries or cultures, and the reasons can vary from being genuinely offensive to being met with biases. For this, we have compiled a list of 5 Authors whose books are banned in India.

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

The scandal behind this book was bigger than the book as the author wasn’t just banned from several countries, including India; he had a ‘Fatwa’ issued against him. This book was an interpretation of the Quran and the Muslim culture from Salman’s perspective and offended the Muslim community as they felt it insulted Prophet Muhammad.

Lajja by Taslima Nasreen

Another offending religious book, Lajja, is the story of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, where Islam and the Muslim community’s claim to the place were challenged. Muslims were offended and issued a ‘Fatwa’ against the author while banning his book in the country.

The Ramayana As Told By Aubrey Menen by Aubrey Menen

This book is a satire from the start and rewrites the epic Hindu story in a positive and light-hearted way. But to extreme believers, any depiction other than their decided original version is blasphemy. Thus, even this humorous book was banned because of controversies in the country.

Jinnah: India - Pakistan Independence by Jaswant Singh

This book was banned from India because it refused to partake in its propaganda against Jinnah without evidence. It scrutinized the situation and played everyone objectively, and also criticized several policies of Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. Thus, this book was banned in the country as it deviated from the prescribed point of view of the status quo.

The Price of Power by Seymour Hersh

This book is controversial as it wasn’t objective but presented its facts and points of view to accuse Morarji Desai, an early Indian Prime Minister, of being a CIA informant. After Mr. Desai learned about this book, he banned it for spelling lies to defame him.

All these books and more get banned from countries for various reasons. This is because none of us truly live in completely free nations. Every country has its own biases, cultural practices, and popular beliefs. If you criticize those beliefs, even if you are from the right place or have all the facts to back you up, you will still be met with backlash and possible bans. Many of these writers got death threats for writing these books, but that doesn’t mean their books are worthless. Now read these and you decide if they should have been banned or not.