One thing that makes me proud as an Indian is the way we gave shelter to the Dalai Lama when he fled Tibet after its Chinese occupation. It may not have earned us any brownie points in terms of global diplomacy and the Americans who applauded us then have since done nothing for the Tibetan cause, In fact, what's worse, they have actually ignored the Dalai Lama and built bridges with China, making them their most favoured trading partner. India however was seen as a nation that roots for a just cause, risking the wrath of powerful neighbours. China, to show its pique, has since played footsie with Pakistan and sold them some very dangerous weapons of war, just to spite us. It has also made incursions into Indian territory to scare us.
But we have not been intimidated. We have stood by the Dalai Lama, a guest on our soil. This is why I find it strange that we are behaving so badly with Taslima Nasreen who fled to India from Bangladesh to escape the wrath of Muslim fundamentalists. As one who has read Taslima's books, I find it difficult to believe that Indian Muslims, who are not fundamentalists, would find them even remotely offensive. Yes, they are critical, seriously critical, of Bangladeshi society and the way women are treated by fundamentalist elements there. This is not new to any of us and most Indian Muslims would agree that women in many Muslim societies could do with more respect.
But you can't expect the fundamentalists to buy that. So they hit back at Taslima so hard that she had no option but to flee Bangladesh. After spending some months in Europe, where she sought sanctuary from her tormenters, she applied for an Indian visa. It was not an unusual request. She is a Bengali writer and it's only natural she would prefer to stay in an environment conducive to her. India as a nation has also suffered enough at the hands of Muslim fundamentalists to realise that what Taslima says merits serious notice. Thirdly, Taslima's war against gender repression and sexual hypocrisy in fundamentalist Muslim societies provides Indian Muslim women the courage to stand up and challenge such practices here. She sets an excellent example.
That's why it was so tragic to see her helplessness exposed last week when the besieged West Bengal Government, in its cunning strategy to divert attention from Nandigram, suddenly decided to turn the heat on Taslima. The rioting on the streets, to protest against her visa extension, was clearly manipulated to take media focus away from Nandigram and, at the same time, appease the Muslim vote bank who were furious that the poor and marginalised farmers of Nandigram (largely Muslims) were being robbed of their land and livelihood by the State in the name of industrialisation. It was a smart move by the State and Taslima was virtually driven out of Kolkata. Even worse, the West Bengal Government tried to coerce the Centre not to extend her visa. Eventually she was forced to withdraw some parts of her most popular book to buy peace. It was a clear case of the State Government working in collusion with Muslim fundamentalist elements.
This is nothing but blackmail. It's also shameless appeasement of fundamentalist forces who are undermining and, in fact, terrorising liberal Muslims here. Taslima's case proves what everyone is saying that we are forever appeasing the wrong guys and weakening the patriotic majority of Indian Muslims. This is simply because this noisy and violent minority owing allegiance to fundamentalist groups have greater ability to raise the political temperature. This weakens patriotic and liberal Indian Muslims fighting with their backs to the wall against a vociferous, militant minority importing its culture of hate.
Taslima's tragedy is the tragedy of all women living under repressive Governments. Instead of humiliating her further and forcing her to withdraw sections from her book, we should have allowed her to stay here with her.
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