India, Dec. 26 -- What happened recently inMadhya Pradesh, where members of theBhim Armypublicly burned theManusmriti, is not just a political act. It is a scream-raw, angry, wounded. And it deserves to be listened to with understanding. But understanding pain does not mean endorsing every expression of it. Some acts don't heal wounds; they deepen them.

There is a deep sadness in book-burning. Not because books are sacred objects, but because burning a book is the moment when dialogue dies and theatre begins. Fire makes noise, smoke gets attention, but neither produces wisdom. Burning Manusmriti may give a few minutes of emotional release, a sense of symbolic revenge against centuries of humiliation-but after the ash settles, nothing rea...