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| Comparison between Pune and Jaipur-Kolkata intriguing | | Fanaticism Vs Nationalism | | Rustam
Jammu, Feb 2: The official launch of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's new book Nirbasan (Exile) was unceremoniously cancelled at the Kolkata Book Fair by the Publishers and Booksellers Guild after protests by some Muslim organisations on Wednesday. The guild said it received calls from two groups - Milli Ittehad Parishad (MIP) and All-India Minority Forum (AIMF) - saying "there would be protests" if the launch took place. "The Kolkata police said it had got similar calls," said guild secretary Tridib Chatterjee, and added that "We cannot put the security of thousands of visitors at stake." The MIP and the AIMF opposed the book release saying that the author is anti-Islam and anti-Muslim. They created scene even before reading Nirbasan. The publishers of the book, People's Book Society, was told by the police just a few hours before the book release that the hall wouldn't be available. "We were unofficially told a group of Muslim activists had lodged a protest at the Kolkata police headquarters and with the guild over the launch of Taslima's book," publisher Shibani Mukherjee said. However, the book was later released at the publisher's own stall at the fair by author Nabarun Bhattacharya. It needs to be underlined that Taslima has been living in exile since years. She became the target of Muslim organisations after she came out with her book Lajja, which was considered by the Muslims as anti-Prophet and anti-Islam. Taslima, who was not in Kolkata, and several writers condemned the government's action saying it surrendered before a "handful of fanatics" and described it as an attack on the freedom of expression, speech and assembly. Some of them said that "India is being allowed by the political class to be Talibinised for vote-bank politics" and suggested that this process, if not checked, would lead to very serious and dangerous ramifications.
The nation had witnessed on December 24, 2011 almost identical situation at the Jaipur Literary Festival where Salman Rushdie was supposed to address the gathering of writers drawn from different parts of the world through video. He had agreed for video conference after Muslim organisations like Milli Council, Deoband's Dar-ul-Uloom, Muslim Personal Law Board, Firangi Mahal (Lucknow) and so on, in collaboration with the Congress governments in Rajasthan and New Delhi, ensured the Rushdie's physical participation in the international event. The Mumbai-born Rushdie has been living in London since several years and is the target of Muslim organisations. The reason is his book Satanic Verses, which is condemned as anti-Prophet, anti-Islam and anti-Muslim. Rushdie was barred from addressing the gathering despite the fact that he was to speak on Midnight Children and not on the banned Satanic Verses.
What happened at Jaipur had evoked a very strong reaction from the media as well as literary class and the BJP. They also took to task the Government of West Bengal for not allowing the book release event to take place under pressure from the MIP and the AIMF and expressed the view that what the West Bengal Government did was nothing but an attack on the right of expression.
However, what was disturbing was the comparison several news channels made between what happened at Pune on January 31 and what happened at Jaipur and Kolkata. What happened at Pune? According to an agencies report from Pune, "Pune's Symbiosis University has postponed a seminar on Jammu and Kashmir after the ABVP…and some NGOs raised objections. While the ABVP was opposed to the screening of a Kashmiri filmmaker Sanjay Kak's documentary 'Jashna-e-Azadi' calling it separatist, the NGOs took up the issue as they felt the plight of the Kashmiri Pandits was not being adequately represented. The representatives of ABVP and PK, who met the college authorities on Monday, said the proposed screening of 'Jashn-e-Azadi', at the seminar, 'Voices of Kashmir', projected the militants in the Valley as 'heroes' and was critical of the Indian Army. This was not acceptable, they maintained. We submitted a memorandum to the college authorities against offering a platform to anti-national elements at the seminar and they told us that the seminar would be postponed, a spokesman of ABVP said on Tuesday. Rohit Bhat, Coordinator of Pune chapter of PK said that the proposed seminar should be more 'inclusive' and project a balanced view of the situation in the militancy-hit state, which also includes Jammu and Ladakh regions".
There can't be any comparison between what led to the postponement of seminar on Jammu and Kashmir and what led to the cancellation of the launch of Taslima's book and video conference of Rushdie. At Pune, the critics simply met the university authorities and told them that the proposed seminar was "anti-India" and that what they were opposed to was the attempt of the organisers of the seminar to distort facts, paint India and the Indian Army black and exclude from discussion what Jammu, Ladakh and displaced Kashmiri Hindus stood for. What was wrong in it? They didn't resort to violence; they simply persuaded the university authorities to see reason and not allow anyone to air anti-India and pro-separatist views. And, they persuaded the authorities two days before the event in a peaceful manner. |
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