BIGOTRY AGAIN

For a writer, barely into her thirties, to become a lone crusader against organized fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh is proof enough that conscience survives in the harshest circumstances. Taslima Nasreen  is probably more outspoken than some of her predecessors, such as Jahanara Imam and Begum Sufia Kamal who preached the virtues of liberal humanism, and for which she has become the latest target of the fundamentalists. The political climate in Bangladesh is now less responsive to secular ideals and it is entirely predictable that her portrayal of the plight of Hindu families in that country in the wake of the demolition of Babri masjid in her novel, Lajja, should be interpreted as evidence of leanings towards India. Even so, it is not easy to understand why the authorities have reacted so indifferently to the death sentence served on her by fundamentalists forces and have so far refrained from offering the security she needs following the fatwa laced with a reward of 50,000 takas for anyone who does  the deed within 15 days. It confirms the impression that while enlightened sections, obviously in a minority, have rallied to Taslima’s support, Begum Khaleda Zia’s Government wishes to play safe and not risk antagonizing the fundamentalist Jamal-e-Islami.
 
The threat to Taslima from the mullahs in Sylhet must be seen against the changed situation in a basically Islamic country where the sins of Ayodhya have been allowed to be visited on innocent Hindu families. Neither the Koran nor the Gita allow that two wrongs make a right. Far from regretting the destructive reprisals, the Bangladesh authorities have done nothing to provide any significant relief and rehabilatation. Nor is there any word on when Taslima will get back her passport, impounded because she chose to declare herself to be a journalist ( on the strength of the columns she wrote for newspapers) when the authorities considered her identity as a doctor in a Government hospital more relevant. Her image as an author of character and conviction has evoked a warm round of approval from right-thinking private citizens, but at a considerable price. They have not gone beyond  extending moral support, probably hoping  like anyone else that the author will survive the aberration. Her well-wishers in India tread on more delicate ground and no one will be so foolish as to claim that this is an issue between the two countries. It is a human problem reflected in a literary work to be judged on its own merits. Taslima Nasreen needs all the support she can get and not only within Bangladesh.
 
Editorial, The Statesman, Calcutta, 1 October 1993