Reception

Seeing Like a Feminist, released in 2012, received favourable reviews. It also had high sales, partly due to uproar following the 2012 Delhi gang rape.^[8] The title of the book is a play upon the title of Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. A review in The Hindu said that the book "[dissected] social institutions, policy, and common ideas to explain the many ways the process of “gendering” occurs — here making a distinction between ‘sex’ as the biological characteristics and ‘gender’ as the set of cultural meanings that are arrived at over time."^[4] Writing in the journal Economic and Political Weekly, feminist scholar Mary John said; "Written in a highly engrossing style, [the book] takes on very serious issues while also frequently making the reader smile. Nivedita Menon has managed to condense some of the most complex challenges facing the women’s movement in contemporary India and elsewhere in the form of a series of short reflections that are organised within six chapters."^[9][10][11] A review in The Guardian noted that "Menon succeeds in shattering some deeply-engrained myths, and her efficient gathering of the intersectional strands makes it a breezy but sharp read."^[12]

Describing Uniform civil code as anti-Muslim

In an article published in The Hindu on 18 October 2016, Menon criticised the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).^[15] She wrote that, "the talk of a Uniform Civil Code has nothing to do with gender justice. It has entirely to do with a Hindu nationalist agenda to ‘discipline’ Muslims". She went on to describe the UCC as "a stick to beat Muslims with" and claimed that the "Muslim Personal Law is already modern", as it already provides women the right to property and recognises marriage as a civil contract, unlike Hindu marriages which were largely considered sacrament, until recently.^[15]

JNU protests

During the protests in JNU in March 2016, Nivedita Menon made a speech titled "Nation, a daily plebiscite" in which she discussed nation formation, nationalist aspirations, and Kashmir's accession to the Indian Union.^[1][16] The lecture was part of a series about nationalism.^[14] The ABVP activist and students union joint secretary Saurabh Kumar Sharma filed a police complaint accusing her of having made anti-national statements to the effect that "Everyone knows that India is illegally occupying Kashmir. It is said the world over. Everybody accepts (this)". She was also accused of saying, "Manipur and Kashmir have been illegally occupied by the Indian state".^[14][17][18] A video clip from her lecture was highlighted by the news channel Zee News, which labelled Menon "anti-national". In the clip Nivedita said that " Hindu Society is the most violent, to the root violent society in the world".^[19][20] The incident led to her being targeted for her views by people and student organisations.^[16][14]

Menon claimed that her actual statement was, "We [Indians] must accept that Kashmiris' call for freedom is absolutely justified".^[21] She also said "We know that people the world over think that India is illegally occupying Kashmir". She also said, "If people are raising slogans for azadi (freedom), shouldn’t this be looked at in the context of India being seen as an imperialist country internationally?". She also highlighted the fact that Kashmiris equate "India" and Indian nationalism with militarism and abuse of power.^[14][17][22] Menon later stated that she had not said anything anti-national.^[23]

The video of her speech and the reactions to it also led to Menon receiving widespread support online. A number of activists published a statement saying that Menon was being vilified by the media and the police, and that the complaints against her constituted harassment.^[14] Friends and students of Menon created a Facebook page in her support.^[24][14] The controversy led to her being described as a figure of dissent against the Hindu right.^[1]