Most Civilized societies recognise that freedom of artistic expression must necessarily clash with religious sensitivities. Mindful of this conflict, they create their own balance and draw their own boundaries to decide what is acceptable and what is not. For instance, the Islamic world regards all offence to religion as entirely unacceptable. In the West, such societies as Britain and Denmark reckon that artistic freedom is so absolute that religious sensitivities are irrelevant. When cultures clash, as they did over the Danish cartoons, each society must decide what balance it prefers.
Our problem in India is that we have no standards, no barriers and no sense of what is acceptable and what is not. Instead, each time the issue erupts, we engage in the same meaningless, finger-pointing debates, and call each other names. No principles are ever discussed. No guidelines are drawn up. No balance is reached.
