Politics fuels India's literary
intolerance By Neeta Lal
DELHI - India's liberals are crying foul
after a book launch by acclaimed Bangladeshi
author Taslima Nasrin was cancelled in Kolkata,
West Bengal, following protests from
fundamentalists. The decision comes just weeks
after author Salman Rushdie was prevented from
attending the Jaipur Literary Festival due to
religious tensions.
Organizers at the
Kolkata International Book Fair cancelled the
official launch of Taslima's book Nirbason
(exile) on February 1 at the last minute following
threats of attacks by Muslim groups. The author
was not present.
Nirbason is the seventh
book in Taslima's autobiographical series. In the
contentious work, she recounts how she was forced
out of
Kolkata in November 2007
after fundamentalists rioted in the city demanding
her expulsion.
Soon after the
cancellation, Taslima wrote scathing comments on
Twitter. "Kolkata Book Fair committee cancelled my
book release program at the Kolkata Book Fair.
Why? Some religious fanatics don't want it to
happen." She added: "Kolkata is a city of
progressives! A book release even without my
presence is not possible! All political parties,
all organizers are afraid of fanatics! But for how
long?"
Taslima told The Times Of India
that, "The mullahs scored a victory by preventing
Rushdie from coming to Jaipur. They celebrated by
not allowing my book to be launched in Kolkata.
What next?"
The author's most
controversial book, Lajja (Shame), was
banned in Bangladesh and she fled the country in
1994 after Muslim extremists called for her death.
Lajja is family drama set against
anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh following the
demolition of India's Babri Mosque in 1992 by
Hindu extremists.
Currently living in New
Delhi, the author pulled no punches in criticizing
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee and the
state's former left-wing rulers. "Both the Left
Front government [ousted in 2011 elections] and
the one led by Banerjee prefer appeasing
fundamentalists rather than protecting the
writers,” Taslima told the Hindustan Times.
"The Left Front drove me out to ensure
that the minority votes went its way. But did they
eventually get the votes?" she said, referring to
her departure from Kolkata in 2007.
Shibani Mukherji of the Peoples' Book
Society (PBS), the publishers of Nirbason,
said that the episode was a "repetition of the
Rushdie incident ... It is shameful that the
program was cancelled despite the author's absence
at the venue."
PBS officials revealed that
Muslim leaders had handed a deputation into city
police headquarters on January 30 saying they
would attack the fair if Taslima's book was
released there. "To prevent any unwarranted
situation", the book launch should be cancelled,
the deputation threatened. The predominantly
Muslim All India Minority Forum also reportedly
sent delegations to the Kolkata Police and Kolkata
Publishers and Booksellers Guild - organizers of
the decades-old book fair - warning that
celebrating Taslima's book could provoke "strong
reactions". Even when the publishers attempted a
smaller, unofficial release at their stall, a
group of protesters from the minority forum tried
to disrupt it. However, unlike Jaipur, where
organizers of the literature festival even had to
cancel a video conference featuring Rushdie, a
soft launch of Taslima's book was able to go
forward.
The Kolkata Publishers and
Booksellers Guild has insisted that it had nothing
to do with the cancelation nor Taslima's absence
from the event. They said the agenda and
invitations for the literary meet were set by
Gameplan Sports, the event management company to
whom the job was delegated.
"We wanted to
organize a literary forum where authors can
communicate with their readers and the guild, who
was looking for a partner, approached us to
organize this literary meet," Malavika Banerjee of
Gameplan Sports told Business Standard newspaper.
Banerji emphasized that there was no
politics involved in not inviting Taslima. "We
have invited a host of recent writers and Taslima
did not figure in the list as she has not been
writing regularly." However, Taslima's publishers
disapproved of the idea of her not attending as
her books "continue to sell like hot cakes,
regardless of her controversies".
Aside
from being seen as another blow to India's
democratic ethos, the cancellation has also raised
questions over declining tolerance over religion
and creative expression. There were four related
controversies the last five weeks.
On
January 5, physically-challenged gay artist Balbir
Krishan was allegedly beaten up by Hindu
fundamentalists for portraying homosexuality in
his paintings while On Jan 30, Pune's Symbiosis
College was forced to postpone the screening of a
documentary on Kashmir, after the right-wing
student organization, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi
Parishad (ABVP), raised objections to its
"separatist" nature. Rushdie was unable to attend
the the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 24
due to protests from Muslim groups over his book
The Satanic Verses, which was banned in
India 24 years ago.
In February, the
Indian embassy in Denmark revealed that it had
been advised to reject the visa applications of
journalists working for the Danish Broadcasting
Corporation, reported Britain's Daily Mail. A
Danish crew last year made the documentary
Blood, Sweat and T-shirts, which focused on
poor working-conditions in India's textile
industry.
Writers and book lovers at the
Kolkata Book Fair echoed the sentiment that the
Taslima cancellation was reminiscent of the
Rushdie incident. "I've come all the way from
Orissa to attend the book fair but am hugely
disappointed by this unnecessary fracas over a
widely respected author. It totally kills the
creative and literary spirit of the festival,"
Roshmi Dey, a University lecturer told Asia Times
Online in a phone interview.
Taslima was
forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 after receiving
death threats over Lajja which questioned
the tenets of Islam. The Bangladeshi government
filed a case against Nasrin on the charges of
"hurting religious feelings of the people". Over
300,000 fundamentalists held a public meeting and
demanded her death while general strikes were
called all over the country to demand Taslima's
execution in 1994. A non-bailable arrest warrant
was also issued against her but she was able to
flee with the help of a few "secular friends".
The recipient of a cache of awards,
Taslima was bestowed with the Kurt Tucholsky prize
from the Swedish PEN and the Sakharov prize for
freedom of thoughts by the European Parliament.
The controversial author also received a
human-rights award from the French government in
1994.
Neeta Lal is a widely
published writer/commentator who contributes to
many reputed national and international print and
Internet publications.
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