Taslima Nasreen is a Bangladeshi writer who shot into prominence with her novel 'Lajja'. The book showcases the atrocities being perpetrated on Hindus in Bangladesh and the violence, rape and assaults they are subjected to in that country.
This angered the Muslim community and ‘fatwas’ were issued against her. After fleeing Bangladesh in 1994, Nasrin spent the next ten years in exile in the West.
She returned to the east and relocated to Kolkata, India, in 2004, where she lived until 2007. After renewed unrest broke out, and after spending several months in hiding, Nasrin left for the West again in 2008.
When she came to attend a literary event in Hyderabad, she was assaulted by MIM cadre. A group of 20 MIM workers, led by MLAs Afsar Khan, Ahmed Pasha and Mozum Khan, stormed the Press Club premises and raised slogans against the author and roughed her up. But for the presence of the police, she would have been in serious danger.
Many Muslim bodies in India also issued ‘fatwas’ against her. Tauqueer Raza Khan, a Muslim cleric of Delhi had announced a Rs 5 lakh bounty for anyone who would kill and behead Taslima Nasreen.
Did even a single writer return their award or speak out in defence of Taslima? Incidentally, this was the cleric that Arvind Kejriwal met to ask for votes during the Delhi elections. But Taslima herself has given a strong answer to the debate on intolerance in India, an answer that is bound to be a slap on the face of the pseudo-seculars.
“Someone just said that India is a very tolerant country. The proof is here: No one who set a price on Taslima’s head was punished,” remarked Taslima.
Need one say more?
