I read the book "Lajja" by Taslima Nasrin about seventeen years ago. From that reading, what I remembered was that the book was like a documentary on discrimination, hatred and atrocities against the Hindus of East Bengal as a part of Pakistan and later as most of Bangladesh. The comments below by Farida Majid, under the thread "Rushdie cancels visit, angry authors read Satanic Verses", prompted me to read the book again and make the comments appended below (under that thread).
Before I talk more about this book, let me address some recent comments on the same thread by Dr. Kamal Das and Dr. Jiten Roy.
KDas: "Only time I criticize any religion is when a religionist tries to impose his 'truth' on me."
SB: One of my other reasons for not criticizing the religious books is that I do want to waste too much time reading and arguing about those primitive wisdoms. But I certainly support people who point out that much of the 'wisdom' in the religious books are either plain stupidity or too inadequate for a civilized world. I think slowly but surely the world is getting out of the non-senses of religions. The countries and communities that are more into those primitive truths and wisdoms are clearly falling behind.
JRoy: "For those who do not want to be a slave - let them go free. God will deal with them. OK?"
SB: I also say to the believers, if you really believe that your God (Allah, Bhagaban, whatever) is almighty, does it make any sense for you to think that he would need your help in establishing his rules/laws/states in this world? Isn't your religious book itself downgrading your almighty by doubting his power in the way of asking for help from the followers, often in the form of criminal acts? I say, just be good, your religion teaches you so or not.
Now a bit about "Lajja" and Ms. Majid's comments:
Anyone who has a basic education in Bangla would see that Lajja talks about the shame of Bangladesh in the form of widespread discrimination, hatred and atrocities against the Hindus. Even the least educated section of Bangladeshis (the semi-literate mullahs) could see that. I was shocked that Ms. Majid found the "central message is a cowardly whimper (the Hindu hero managing to slap a Muslim street prostitute as his climactic act of protest!)."
While the story often brings up a cowardly Hindu young man who does not take any responsibility for his old parents and the family, he is neither a hero nor the focus of the book. The book is all about how pathetic the record of Bangladesh is on how it treats its Hindus, and about the lingering one-sided violence of Muslim criminals on the innocent and non-violent Hindus.
There is not even a single word of condemnation or ridicule against Islam in the book. I do not think even the die-hard mullah would find it blasphemous against Islam. To ban this book in Bangladesh would make sense only if the country denied the truth of the prolonged injustice against the Hindus there. To ban this book in West Bengal would make sense only if the state were to appease the criminal segment of the Muslims in the state. Shame on both!!
The present Awami league government is making some progress, even when it is unable or unwilling to delete 'bismillah' and 'state religion' from the constitution. I see a thin ray of hope for a civilized Bangladesh vis-à-vis treating all its citizens, irrespective of religious affiliations, with respect. It is only a thin ray of hope; Bangladesh has a long way to go.
So long for now,
Sukhamaya Bain
From: Sukhamaya Bain <subain1@yahoo.com>
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] FW: Rushdie cancels visit, angry authors read Satanic Verses
To: "mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com" <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2012 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: [mukto-mona] FW: Rushdie cancels visit, angry authors read Satanic Verses
What is 'middle-class concerns on women's issues'?
Taslima Nasrin could be the culprit behind increasing 'hizabization' of women in Bangladesh, what an absurd argument! I can understand that the Jamati's would resist any movement that advocates women's rights. One way to suppress such movements would be to hizabize more women. If Bangladesh fell for that, it was because the country did not have enough educated people to advocate women's rights, not because the women's rights activists were wrong or imperfect in executing their movement.
I do not think a truly secular person would downplay "Lajja" by branding it 'a badly written account of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh'. 'Badly written' and 'badly executed' are the kind of excuses that are made by people who do not wish to support the fight against the persecution in question. It would also be pretty uneducated of anyone reading the book (Lajja) and finding that the 'central message' was a cowardly whimper of the Hindu hero managing to slap a Muslim street prostitute as his climactic act of protest.
I agree with Ms. Majid on one point. A Hindu should not criticize Islam (or any other non-Hindu religion), and a Muslim should not criticize Hinduism (or any other non-Islamic religion). The religious fools need to see the silliness in their own religions. To be a neutral critique of religions, one should promote himself/herself to a Human first. I do not identify myself in terms of any religion. However, I still avoid picking up a religious book and trying to find faults in it. That is because it is obvious that a thousand years back people were less civilized, and knew less. We can not go back in time to fix anything; it is better to focus on recent and current hatred and injustices.
Talking about Taslima Nasrin's successes with her narcissism, are we feeling bad that our own narcissism did not give us such successes? I think we should control our personal attacks on people who are writing in this forum as well on people who are not writing in this forum.
Sukhamaya Bain
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From: Farida Majid <farida_majid@hotmail.com>
To: mukto-mona <mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 23, 2012 6:30 PM
Subject: RE: [mukto-mona] FW: Rushdie cancels visit, angry authors read Satanic Verses
Taslima was a good columnist. I used to be a fan, though i often found her to be a bit too confined to her middle-class concerns on women's issues. I supported her views when she blamed religious beliefs, customs and other superstitions for the plight of women in our society.
But in 1993, when confronted by the fundamentalists, I was shocked by the way she just chickened out. Her cowardice was visible in her body language (coy looks and min-min voice) and the stupidity of repeating over and over again the same dumb, unexamined Bangla translations of the Qur'an and calling them "religion" was simply stupefying! How can anybody be so scared to lose basic cultural sense, or an idea of what political game was being played? Her narcissism was then as now is too blatant.
She did more harm to women's ongoing movements in Bangladesh by emboldening the Jamaati factions. Almost every woman activist I've met in the field says so. Today there are more hijabized women in BD than they were in 1993 and Taslima's fiasco in 1993 is partly to blame.
As an old communalism combatant I can tell you that Taslima is just another rotten piece of wooden chip in the fire of communalism. I work with a team of communalism combatants and none of us singles out a particular religion and attacks it indiscriminately. Even the die-hard atheists and religion-haters amongst us has learned (the hard way) not to pick on "religion" as the root cause of communalism despite the fact that religion is the main vehicle of their hate-mongering machine.
Her novelette 'Lajja' is a badly written account of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh in the sense that its central message is a cowardly whimper (the Hindu hero managing to slap a Muslim street prostitute as his climactic act of protest!). Had Taslima really cared about humanity the message could have been bolder in that novel, and more politically or even artistically meaningful in sensitizing us about the root causes of communalism.
Just as I, a Muslim, would not go on and on about the flaw in Hinduism regarding its caste system, my Hindu or Christian team-mates are discouraged from talking about 'jehadism' as a part of Islam and as if every ordinary Indian or Bangladeshi Muslim lives by it.
Combating communalism and religious fundamentalism is not as easy as it seems superficially. It is a rough ride and it gets rougher the more deeply you get involved. It requires a thorough knowledge and understanding of our subcontinental history and culture.
Taslima has done well with her narcissism, and I applaud her. But please do not call her a "champion" on women's issues or a sincere anti-communal activist. She is a sneaky, manipulative coward, the opposite of 'brave'.
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But in 1993, when confronted by the fundamentalists, I was shocked by the way she just chickened out. Her cowardice was visible in her body language (coy looks and min-min voice) and the stupidity of repeating over and over again the same dumb, unexamined Bangla translations of the Qur'an and calling them "religion" was simply stupefying! How can anybody be so scared to lose basic cultural sense, or an idea of what political game was being played? Her narcissism was then as now is too blatant.
She did more harm to women's ongoing movements in Bangladesh by emboldening the Jamaati factions. Almost every woman activist I've met in the field says so. Today there are more hijabized women in BD than they were in 1993 and Taslima's fiasco in 1993 is partly to blame.
As an old communalism combatant I can tell you that Taslima is just another rotten piece of wooden chip in the fire of communalism. I work with a team of communalism combatants and none of us singles out a particular religion and attacks it indiscriminately. Even the die-hard atheists and religion-haters amongst us has learned (the hard way) not to pick on "religion" as the root cause of communalism despite the fact that religion is the main vehicle of their hate-mongering machine.
Her novelette 'Lajja' is a badly written account of Hindu persecution in Bangladesh in the sense that its central message is a cowardly whimper (the Hindu hero managing to slap a Muslim street prostitute as his climactic act of protest!). Had Taslima really cared about humanity the message could have been bolder in that novel, and more politically or even artistically meaningful in sensitizing us about the root causes of communalism.
Just as I, a Muslim, would not go on and on about the flaw in Hinduism regarding its caste system, my Hindu or Christian team-mates are discouraged from talking about 'jehadism' as a part of Islam and as if every ordinary Indian or Bangladeshi Muslim lives by it.
Combating communalism and religious fundamentalism is not as easy as it seems superficially. It is a rough ride and it gets rougher the more deeply you get involved. It requires a thorough knowledge and understanding of our subcontinental history and culture.
Taslima has done well with her narcissism, and I applaud her. But please do not call her a "champion" on women's issues or a sincere anti-communal activist. She is a sneaky, manipulative coward, the opposite of 'brave'.
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