Hay Festival 2012: Freedom of Speech: Mark Tully Hindu extremists were enraged by James Laine's scholarly book on their hero, the 17th century ruler Shivaji. The extremists even ransacked the historic library of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute destroying unique manuscripts. The state not only failed to protect the library, it also banned the book. The Universities of Mumbai and Delhi both bowed to pressure from Hindu extremists to remove texts from their syllabuses. One was an essay discussing the different versions of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana, the story of the god-king Ram. The Hindu nationalist BJP, and organisations associated with it insist that there is only one Ram and that he was a historical figure. Such organisations were in the vanguard of the campaign that threatened to take revenge on India's best-known modern artist, MF Hussain, for painting Hindu goddesses naked. The government took no action against those who issued the threats so his safety. The artist died in exile. Two months ago Peter Heehs, a scholar who wrote a widely acclaimed biography of the Indian philosopher Shri Aurobindo, was almost expelled from the country. One group of members of the Aurobindo Ashram, or community, where Heehs had lived and worked for many years, claimed the book would damage the philosopher's image. They persuaded a court to ban the book and the passport officer to deny Heehs a visa. Fortunately Delhi overturned the visa decision but the book remains banned. In spite of these examples of intolerance, India remains a country that respects freedom of expression. When there are failures to enforce that right there are public outcries. I recently interviewed the much-loved Indian writer, 97-year-old Khushwant Singh, author of a classic novel about the partition of India, Train to Pakistan and a book on the Sikhs. Speaking of the current travails of India's Sikh Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, Khushwant said, "The trouble is this is an ungovernable country." Perhaps it's better for India to remain ungovernable rather than over-governed. When Indira Gandhi tightened the reins by declaring a State of Emergency and assuming absolute powers the consequences for freedom of expression were dire. Mark Tully will be appearing at the Hay Festival on Friday June 8