Edit:Citizen Taslima 28 Nov 07 (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TODAYS_EDITORIAL_Citizen_Taslima/articleshow/2573584.cms)
Those on the look out for ironies in politics would savour this. The BJP, not an unqualified supporter of the right to freedom of expression, is rooting for Taslima Nasreen whereas the CPM, which claims to uphold secular values, wants her to keep off Kolkata.
The BJP wants the government to treat Taslima, on the run from Islamic fundamentalists in Bangladesh and West Bengal, as a political refugee. The CPM would perhaps prefer to reserve its opinion on the matter. The party appears to believe that support for Taslima could lead to a loss of Muslim
votes in West Bengal.
All secular-minded people would agree with the BJP in this matter even if the party's decision has a political design to it. Taslima has been living in India since 2004. Islamic fundamentalists hate her and have physically assaulted her many times.
The open display of hostility from the religious right has prevented the government from acceding to her request for Indian citizenship. This should not be the case. Our Constitution gives pride of place to secularism and protects the right to free speech.
Of course, it is not an unqualified right. But fringe radical elements in the society can object to anything and everything. They have low tolerance levels and take the law in their hands at the first instance. More often than not, the Indian state acquiesces to their demands. Such tame surrender by the state has added muscle to their activities and isolated moderate opinion.
The Left Front government in West Bengal has also followed the same pattern and gave in to pressure from Muslim fundamentalists. Unfortunately, such acts give credence to the accusation of the political right that secularism is a euphemism for 'minority appeasement'.
There is every reason now for all secular-minded people to support Taslima's plea for citizenship. That should make it easy for the administration to protect her rights as a human being and a professional writer.
Since the BJP recognises the artist's right to freedom of speech, it should now take the lead to persuade M F Husain to end his exile.
Husain was forced to flee the country after various sangh parivar outfits filed a slew of cases against him for hurting the sensibilities of Hindus, a charge that Islamic fundamentalists have raised against Taslima. Hindu fanatics, like their Muslim counterparts vis-a-vis Taslima, have issued death threats to Husain.
Husain, one of the finest artists of his times, is an icon of secular India. His forced exile is a blot on our secular and liberal credentials. So is the failure to give citizenship to Taslima.
>>
Taslima blames it on Kolkata police by Marcus Dam (http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/28/stories/2007112858910100.htm)
"They put pressure on me; I was driven out"
I was advised to go to Jaipur against my wishes
Hope of being able to return to Kolkata keeps me going
KOLKATA: The controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday held certain top officials of the Kolkata police responsible "for putting mental pressure" on her and finally getting her to leave the city on November 22.
Ms. Nasreen rejected the police contention that she had left on her own.
"I was under tremendous mental pressure for nearly three months while in Kolkata to leave the State for some time for reasons of my security. And then came the events of November 21," she told Hindu The over telephone.
Ms. Nasreen, who left the city for Jaipur a day after demonstrations led by the All-India Minority Forum demanding that her visa be revoked turned violent, was shifted from the Rajasthan Guest House in Delhi late on Monday night to a "safe place," where the Centre is taking care of her security.
While in Kolkata "there were suggestions that I go to certain other parts of the country and even abroad. But I kept refusing as I did not want to leave home," Ms. Nasreen said. "All these months I was not even allowed to step outside my house."
Attack in Hyderabad
Security had been tightened since she returned here from Hyderabad following an attack on her by activists of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen at a function held in that city on August 9 to mark the release of the Telugu translation of her book Sokhe.
On the remark by police authorities that she had left Kolkata of her own volition, Ms. Nasreen said: "I deny that flatly. I have been driven out of the State after withstanding three months of mental pressure from certain police officials. Finally I was advised to go to Jaipur at the instance of someone trusted to them [the police] and much against my wishes."
Her being shunted from Jaipur to the national capital under heavy security cover and then to another undisclosed location late on Monday night has left Ms. Nasreen shaken. "You can well imagine the state of my mind," she said.
"I keep hoping that I will be able to return to Kolkata, which is my home, at the earliest. That is all that keeps me going."
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