While
Nasrin's novel is not extreme, the
reaction to it is. Islamic
fundamentalists have offered a large
cash reward to anybody who murders
her. It is sad to see Bengal
government to behave in a communal
way for vote bank to support
fundamentalist Muslims demand to
throw Nasrin out of the state. CPM
calls BJP communal, however the
deeds of CPM is worst, CPM is not
only communal but also they have
sided with terrorist mind set of the
Muslims.
I like Nasrin. I like her honesty,
intense intelligence and courage,
all of which come through in this
book. She has made comments about
abolishing Quranic law because of
its discrimination of women and lack
of human rights. Nasrin is entitled
to debate the Quran for reforms and
she is really not out of line if she
says that Muslim women are
suffering. She has right to sensible
freedom of speech.
Bangladesh is a forgotten country.
However, Hindu genocide happened
there according to the book. Inside
Bangladesh controversial, informed
voices (especially women's) are
rarely heard. The country and this
world needs people like Nasrin. This
world needs bold and honest media
and government. Muslim community
need to be tolerant to different
opinions of their people and should
be open to reforms and debates.
People should read her book, or
similar books like Lajja, whether or
not their views are the same. It's
intelligent to do so. - Ashok
Nagar - Dec. 3, 2007
I
agree with Indra about the
harassment being perpetrated by
Muslim men against the author
Nasreen in country like India.
What is even more surprising is that
these so called secular CPI-M coward
politicians are buckling down to
accommodate demands of
fundamentalist Muslims to throw
Nasreen out of Kolkata. In a way
these CPI-M have proved that they
are really not secular, but vote
bank suckers like many other
parties.
I agree, these coward CPI-M
politicians (like CM of Bengal
Buddha- what a contrast in his name)
have lost the resolve to fight
terrorism, and for vote bank wanting
to cater to fundamentalist Muslim
men, and their demand. It is time
for Hindu Bengalis to make it clear
to Buddha that CPI-M won't get Hindu
Bengalis vote, and they should also
go out and protest against CPI-M's
terrorist-friendly acts in ousting
Nasreen. - Ronkin Nasa - Dec. 3,
2007
[Edited]
I
would like to clear the mind of
readers about "Hindu Bengalis" vote.
According to popular opinion,
majority of them are simply
"Bengali" and "Secular". Taslima
Nasreen is also a Bengali, but not
secular because of her unholistic
writing entitled "Lajja". It took
years to 'secularists of Kolkata' to
understand that she (Taslima) is not
a secular. And she has no right to
live in Kolkata. The smart
Government at Kolkata understood the
same in one lecture, and ordered
Taslima to leave. Boys (Comrades)
who captured Nandigram, later
hoisted the flag of secularism in
Kolkata after the departure of
Nasreen. Thus silence prevailed in
Kolkata with no protest march, what
happened to Mamta Banerjee? That is
why there is no such "Hindu Bengalis
vote".
At the same time silence prevailed
in the secular castles of Lalu,
Mulayam, Karats, Yechuri, Naidu,
Karuna, Pawar and Gowda as well as
India's most prestigious famous for
being called Secular Universities.
None of them are concerned for the
dirty dancing organized by the
section of secularists on the
streets of Kolkata, converting the
city of joy into the city of sorrow.
- Sudhir Ranjan - Dec. 4, 2007
I
don't agree with Sudhir Ranjan that
there are no such thing called Hindu
Bengali. I have known many Hindu
Bengalis, and they may not be
fanatic Hindus, however they do
consider themselves Hindu Bengalis
and they now need to understand what
has been going around them.
Regarding the Nasreen book, it has
been around for several years as
early as 1995, and it is not the
first time that Nasreen has
visited/lived in Kolkata, then why
all this tamasha and hooliganism now
in Kolkata? In fact it is a
conspiracy staged by the CPM to
divert attention of people from
Nandigram, and they found Nasreen a
good lightening rod for diverting
attention from Nandigram. In my
opinion, these CPMs are pathetic low
life politicians with no morality or
value. They are not only communal
but also anti-national.
In Bengal the CPM apparently use
these equations to calculate who is
secular and who is not.
1) Pro-Muslims = Secular; 2)
Pro-Hindus = Not Secular; 3)
Against-Hindus = Secular; 4)
Against-fundamentalist Muslims = Not
Secular
According to these equations, CPM
considers itself secular as it
satisfies equation-1; CPM calls BJP
Not-Secular as it satisfies
equation-2; CPM considers Muslim
extremists as secular who did dirty
dancing on Kolkata streets to
terrorise people, and the helpless
lady Nasreen, as they satisfy
equation-1; Anti national terrorists
who infiltrate from Bangladesh or
Pakistan are likely to be considered
secular by the CPM as they satisfy
equation-3; CPM considers Taslima
Nasreen not secular as she satisfies
equation-4. Therefore according to
CPM the most secular countries in
the world should be the Islamic
republics of Bangladesh, Pakistan,
Iran etc. and most non-secular
countries that can possibly be out
there are democratic countries like
India or USA as they may not be as
pro-Muslim as of yet (like CPM
itself). - Ronkin Nasa - Dec. 5,
2007
[Edited]
I
have not read 'Lajja' hence I am not
entitled to agree/disagree with what
Muslim population thinks about her.
But I want to make one general
comment on this kind of practice
adopted by our noted artisans
littérateurs etc. Take the case of
M.F. Hussain, who has given him the
right to paint naked pictures of
Hindu Goddesses?. This is an
absolute attack on ones religious
sentiments. When it is matter of
faith, no body has the right to play
around with the religious sentiments
of the people.
Then I remember one case of a movie
by Deepa Mehta or Meera Nair (I
don't know exactly) in which
something related to lesbianism was
the theme. This is fine, but the sad
part was the two actresses involved
in this act were named 'SITA' and 'RADHA'
. There are so many female names in
the world to choose from then why
the names of Hindu Goddesses are
chosen. This was certainly
avoidable, but I feel to get cheap
publicity producer/directors have
resorted to this.
Still harming somebody physically
can not be justified, but artists
and other people should not
intentionally hurt religious
sentiments of people to get cheap
publicity. - Santosh Kumar Singh,
Bangalore - Dec. 5, 2007
Santosh Singh ji,
You need to do your homework on
Islamic society and try to
understand the sophistication of
their mind set. Let me provide reply
to couple of your comments pointwise
-
>> "I have not read 'Lajja' hence I
am not entitled to agree/disagree
with what Muslim population thinks
about her. "
The problem with the Muslim
population is that they start the
language of killing at the slightest
provocation or for any
Mohammed-related controversy. If you
did or say anything that appeared
negative (even though it may be
true) to Muslims about the Islamic
religion or Mohammed then their
standard answer is "I will kill
you". Quran is full of killing
advice. Take the recent case of
Sudan where an UK female teacher Mrs
Gibbons, named a teddy bear Mohammed
for the kids in the school that she
was teaching, and she (unknowingly)
offended Muslims in Sudan/world. She
was sentenced to 40 lashes and
imprisonment. Muslims all over the
Sudan demanded capital punishment
for her for having fun with the name
Mohammed that happened to be also
the name of their prophet.
>> "But I want to make one general
comment on this kind of practice
adopted by our noted artisans
littérateurs etc. Take the case of
M. F. Hussain, who has given him the
right to paint naked pictures of
Hindu Goddesses?. This is an
absolute attack on ones religious
sentiments. When it is matter of
faith, no body has the right to play
around with the religious sentiments
of the people."
If Hindus were mindless fanatic like
Muslims then M. F Hussain would have
been murdered by now for his attempt
on nude paintings. Hindus didn't do
anything like what Muslims could
have done in such as situation. In
case of the Nasreen - I can tell you
that she (in her book) didn't draw
any naked pictures of Muhammad like
MF Hussain did. Had she done that
she could have been murdered by now
without any monetary incentives put
forward by fanatic criminal Muslims.
What Nasreen is asking for is more
women's right to freedom and human
rights in general. I didn't find her
playing around with the religious
sentiments in her book. - Ronkin
Nasa - Dec. 6, 2007
I
agree with Ronkin that only fault of
Nasrin is that she has highlighted
poor treatment of women in Islamic
society and Quran's second-class
treatment of women. It is time for
all Muslim women to be more brave,
not be dominated by men, rebel
against the Islamic oppression of
women, demand for reform in Quran,
and seek more freedom. - Ashok
Nagar - Dec. 9, 2007
[Edited]
I
did not find any phrase or a word in
'Lajja' that is harmful for Quran or
Islam. What she wrote is simply a
true situation faced by Hindus
there. We may not be aware of that,
But because of her we know now. It
is this what she has done wrong. I
admire Taslim for her brave
writings. May she live long. -
Rajesh Prasad - Dec. 16, 2007 |
