Taslima Nasrin Attacks cancer of Censorship in Indian Society
Alison Flood
10 February
2012
After the cancellation of Salman Rushdie's festival appearance, Taslima Nasrin attacks the growing 'appetite for censorship' in India which has prevented her own book launch
The writer
Taslima Nasrin has hit out at a "growing cancer" afflicting Indian
society, identifying a increasing "appetite for censorship" after the
second high profile literary event in less than a month was cancelled amid
concerns over security.
"Writers
and artists have become the soft targets of religious extremists," she
said. "The authority tries to appease either Hindu fanatics or Muslim
fanatics in India. All the political parties have different agendas, but they
have no agenda or intention to value freedom of expression. It's a dangerous
race, who can violate free speech more."
A week
after plans for the novelist Salman Rushdie to appear at the Jaipur literature
festival were scrapped due to threats of assassination the author later judged
to be fabricated, the launch of the latest volume of Nasrin's autobiography,
Nirbashan (Exile), at the Kolkata Book Fair was abandoned.
Nasrin fled
Bangladesh in 1994 when Islamic extremists threatened to kill her, saying that
she had made "objectionable comments" about Islam and the prophet
Muhammad – which the author denies. After a decade in Europe she moved to
Kolkata, where she lived until 2007, when she was forced into hiding after
being attacked for being "anti-Islam" at a book launch in the south
Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The writer,
who now lives in Delhi, was not due to be present in person at the launch of
Nirbashan, but a protest from the All India Minority Forum still forced fair
organisers to call it off. The Kolkata Book Fair did not respond to the
Guardian's request for comment, but explained to the Times of India that they
"could not risk" it. "We were told by this group that the
release might cause trouble inside the fair," said spokesperson Tridib
Chatterjee. When her publisher later organised a smaller release on their stall
at the fair, protesters attempted to prevent it.
"You
may wonder why the authority tries to ban me or ban my book launch," said
Nasrin. "They believe I am anti-Islam, and supporting me or allowing me
entry to the country or the state or the city or the book fair would send a
wrong message to the Muslim fanatics. They fear they would lose the Muslim
vote. They do not want to take the risk of a single Muslim vote."
The author
believes "the appetite for censorship is growing in India", she said.
With Rushdie prevented by fears of violence from attending or even speaking via
video link at the Jaipur event in January, Nasrin says we are witnessing
"the disturbing victory of Islamic gangsters" in Jaipur and Kolkata.
"I am wondering how to stop this growing cancer from spreading," she
said.
Like
Rushdie, Nasrin also suspects her book launch did not represent a genuine
security threat. "It was something cooked up," she said, "as
launching a book by a controversial author could have proved awkward for the
fair and the government."
According
to Nasrin, intolerance is growing "because the government does not take
action against intolerant fanatics and the fanatics are forgiven for whatever
violence they commit in the name of religion ... India needs to secularise the
states, judiciary and educational systems. People need to learn about the
principles of democracy, freedom of expression, human rights and humanism. They
need to be enlightened. In the name of 'Indian secularism', irrational blind
faith and the barbarity of all religions seem to be accepted and respected
equally."
Source: The
Guardian, UK
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-media/taslima-nasrin-attacks-cancer-censorship/d/6650