The Jammu Kashmir government’s announcement to ban 25 books terming those inculcating and arousing secessionist and radical sentiments among the people in general and youth in particular is a much belated action and too short of what has been expected to fully dismantle the secessionist eco-system well entrenched in erstwhile Jammu Kashmir and still posing serious challenges.
Books forfeited including works by Arundhati Roy and A.G. Noorani and scores of other controversial authors, is a measured yet necessary response to a persistent threat—the ideological subversion of Kashmiri youth through glorification of terrorism, vilification of security forces, and propagation of secessionist narratives.
In a region where peace has been painstakingly restored after decades of turmoil, this step signals the administration’s resolve to protect the fragile gains made through sacrifices by civilians, security forces, and political actors alike. The Home Department’s action rightly identifies these publications as dangerous to India’s sovereignty and integrity.
However, the problem is far wider than these 25 titles. A growing body of literature, largely produced by leftist ideologues and apologists for militancy, continues to distort history and propagate falsehoods. These narratives, often posing as scholarship, have long sustained Kashmir-centric victimhood and alienation, thereby serving the designs of those who wish to keep the region in perpetual unrest.
Yet, in the digital age, merely banning books within J&K is not enough. With information freely accessible online, and the youth of the Valley increasingly mobile—pursuing education, careers, and opportunities across India—the reach of such literature remains largely unchecked.
The need of the hour is a comprehensive ideological counter-narrative, rooted in truth, constitutional values, and national integration. Book bans may act as symbolic deterrents, but only informed engagement and credible academic discourse can defeat the intellectual ecosystem that fuels separatism. What is more important is that both central and state government and nationalist scholars could not present effectively the correct events, incidents and their interpretations in right perspective in counter to even false facts and narratives fed at Wikipaedea and scores of similar digital platforms.
The state must therefore go beyond bans and actively promote platforms that amplify fact-based, balanced perspectives on Kashmir—especially among the youth. Only then can the nation inoculate its future generations against radical distortions and divisive propaganda.
Looking at the crucial juncture at which Jammu Kashmir stands today, the helmsmen cannot afford to adopt a complacent attitude toward secession or radicalization, as this could roll back the hard-earned achievements of peace in the region to square one.
It is understandable that the action has been taken by the J&K government but what is mystifying is the fact that this step has not been taken by the government of India at national level because if these books advocate secession or have the potential to radicalize the minds, then the same should be banned all across the country by the dispensation at the centre for similar action at the national level.
It is perplexing that one can read these publications when not in J&K as the jurisdiction of J&K’s Home department doesn’t lie beyond Lakhanpur.
