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| Will Taslima Nasreen prove second Shah Banoo for saffron brigade? | | | Early Times Special Correspondent
Jammu | Nov 28
Taslima Nasreen has come as a God given gift to the BJP, Sang Parivaar and other Hindutva forces to beat the Congress, its UPA partners and the left parties with their stick, charging them of succumbing before the pressure from Islamic fundamentalists and thus treating the Bangladeshi writer most shabbily. Like the Shah Banoo case in early 1980s which gave boost to the saffron surge in the country, with the Hindu vote bank consolidating for the first time against the so called pseudo secularists, discomfiture and harassment being caused to the Muslim Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who has been hounded out of her country and is under death sentence from the Islamic fundamentalists for her alleged anti Islamic and blasphemous writings, is sought to be availed of to the best of their ability by the BJP and Sang Parivaar. Taslima had been having refuge in West Bengal ruled by the left front, till lately, when under pressure from some Islamic fundamentalists the leftist government of Bangladesh is alleged to have moved her out of the state. Since then she is being treated as a shuttle cock being moved from one place to another, with the West Bengal government and the leftists throwing the ball about her safety and stay in the court of central government, while the latter blaming the West Bengal government for shabby treatment to her.
Ironically enough RSS, which is often dubbed as Hindu communalist or fundamentalist organizations has become the staunchest supporter and ardent advocate of the right of Taslima Nasreen to be granted asylum in India and making her living in this country absolutely secure and tension free, with full liberty granted to her to express her views through her writings. The Sang Parivaar is going full steam and capitalizing on the raging controversy over Taslima. The RSS Chief K S Sudarshan has demanded that Nasreen should be given political asylum in India. Addressing a gathering, Sudarshan is reported to have said, "People deserted by others are welcome to this country".
Still move ironical is that Gujarat Chief Minister Nariender Modi, who is known as Hindu icon and attacks on whom from various quarters for riots in Gujarat in 2001, in which thousands of Muslims were massacred, are going on unabated even after laps of over 6 years, has come out in open support of Taslima Nasreen and has offered her full protection if she decides to live in Gujarat. These gestures by the RSS Chief K S Sudarshan and the Gujarat Chief Minister Nariender Modi echo the BJP's stated position on the issue. The VHP has not lagged behind in coming to the rescue of hounded Bangladeshi Muslim writer. International President of VHP, Ashok Singhal has criticized the UPA government in the centre and the left government in West Bengal for the fate of Taslima in India and has defended her right of free expression of her feelings.
Thus it is clear that the Sang Parivaar is not going to miss this provident offered opportunity to them to launch virulent attacks on the UPA government in the centre and the left government in West Bengal. This has provided an issue to the BJP and the Sang Parivaar to consolidate the Hindu vote bank behind them as a backlash to Islamic fundamentalists, who are opposing threat to the safety of the Bangladeshi writer. Whether the scenario similar to the one that emerged in the early 1980s, when the Congress government in the centre headed by Rajiv Gandhi had amended the Indian constitution, to deprive a Muslim divorced woman, Shah Banoo the right to maintenance from her husband who had divorced her, after the Supreme Court had upheld her right in this regard, will repeat once again, is to be seen. |
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