Taslima, the bravest woman

Posted on | April 25, 2008 | 1 Comment

Recently my publisher sent some papers in Bengali font with a footnote that I should translate a new book of Taslima Nasreen into English. The printed pages spewed fire and brimstone against the male dominated Muslim society and abominable plight of women. Strong feelings against male masochism expressed in easy flowing colloquial Bengali sounded very familiar to now forgotten expressions by Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.

Taslima is not the first rebel from Mymensingh. Another son of the district Nirod Chandra Chowdhury had also rebelled against decomposed social values and arcane ideas and beliefs. However, Nasreen has something special. Being a Muslim woman, she bravely exposed the pitiable condition of women, subjugated under the ruse of the Shari’ a and Hadith. She unmasked the demorphed face of tolerant Bengali Muslim society, which had donned on fundamentalist Borka. She was the first Bangladeshi writer to expose the plight of Hindu women in her country. I did not understand what was burning in her soul, but it was clear that this one volcano had the capability of exploding like another Krakatoa.

The recent incidents of attack on Taslima in Hyderabad by the MIM proved beyond doubt that some sections of Muslim society were bent upon maiming and silencing a voice who was not an apostate. She simply protested against abysmal condition of women in orthodox Islamic society. The MIM is supposed to be the direct successor of the infamous Razakars of the Nizam.

Attack on Taslima by the All India Minority Forum (AIMF), headed by Congress leader Md. Idris, and a section of the Furfura Sahib’s Sufi congregation came as a great shock. None of the leading Muslim politico-religious organisations had issued any sanction against Taslima. The AIMF is a product of Nandigram tussle between the CPM and its rivals Trinmul Comngress, Indian National Congress and the Maoists. After “reoccupation” of Nandigram by the CPM, the same political forces hatched up a plan to mount assault on the CPM castle under the garb of accumulated anger on Nandigram, Rizwanur death and Taslima issues.

Degeneration of secularism to minority appeasement has become a new creed of the political parties. The CPM was unnerved by the outburst orchestrated by TMC, Congress and their ally AIMF. Taslima was already under pressure to shift from West Bengal, as the secular CPM was not willing to face the hostile Muslim vote bank. The funniest part is that a “secular” CPM catapulted Taslima to a “communal” BJP run state.

Another secular political hotchpotch, the UPA, has not dared to shelter her in the open fearing mob frenzy by the “secular” Muslims headed by the Imam of Jama Masjid. Taslima is an unwanted guest and the mighty government of India is helpless in the face of vote bank compulsion and fear of jihadist backlash.

India has offered transit, visit and informal stay facilities to many politically distressed leaders and public figures starting from Dalai Lama to Sheikh Hasina and sons of Z. A. Bhutto. Why Congress is so cheeky about Taslima Nasreen? Indian foreign minister’s advisory to Taslima is grammatically correct, but what about the spirit of Indian constitution, right to expression and artistic liberty? He has shamed the country by using the floor of the Parliament to offer conditional shelter to Taslima.

Similar madness was displayed by the Hindutwa goons against M. F. Hussain. So, where is the difference between “secular” Congress and the “communal” BJP? All constitutional and legal lines have been blurred under compulsion of vote bank politics. Narendra Modi has even the cheek of offering shelter to Taslima in Gujarat, which is more hilarious than Ayman Al Jawahiri chanting the verses of Gita is.

In my view, the government of India and its secular dispensation should offer political asylum to Taslima and resettle her as an honoured citizen. Taslima is one of the most courageous protagonist of secular values and champion of women’s liberty. She should not be burned in the stakes of “secularism”. The knights of Jihad would haunt India should its rulers succumb to fundamentalist pressure like the ones it did in Shah Bano case and Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verse.

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Comments

One Response to “Taslima, the bravest woman”

Bubba
September 24th, 2008 @ 11:11 pm

I wonder why you find Narendra Modi’s offer to protect Taslima to be so funny. You can rest assured that since he made a public offer, he cannot afford to goof up. Also he was the the only politician who had the guts to do so. One would think that after what happned in Gujarat, he would have wanted to be ‘poilitically’ correct towards muslims. Shows that he is a politician in a different mould. While he needs to be populist, he has enough sense, confidence and will, to do and say the right things. Just my opinion, you dont have to agree.

Thanks