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Woman of courage

Writers and artists have been targeted many times by the fundamentalist fringe in India but the cowardly attack on Taslima Nasrin is a first on several counts. The exiled Bangladeshi feminist writer was roughed up in the full glare of cameras during a function held at the Hyderabad Press Club. The goons belonging to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen were led by three party MLAs. Far from being remorseful, Majlis president Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi said the three le gislators and four others who were arrested “deserved a pat on their back for what they have done”; and noted regretfully that “we should have done more.” Other Majlis leaders threatened to kill Ms. Nasrin if she set foot in Hyderabad again. Under the circumstances, there is a widespread feeling that those responsible for the attack — who were charged with rioting, trespass, and criminal intimidation and released on bail in a few hours after arrest — were let off lightly under the aegis of a soft government. While the Majlis is not a formal ally of the ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh, it has some kind of understanding with it. This was in evidence when the Majlis backed the Congress candidate in last year’s Karimnagar Parliamentary by-election.

The attack could have been prevented had the organiser of the function informed the police in advance about the presence of Ms. Nasrin, whose writings on women’s issues and religion have drawn fire from Muslim fundamentalists in Bangladesh and India. The aggressive posture adopted recently by the Majlis on ‘Muslim’ issues seems related to anxieties over the erosion of its political base in its Hyderabad ‘stronghold.’ Concerted efforts by political rivals — particularly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has highlighted the utter lack of development in this area — to break the Majlis’ hold over the Old City seem to have rattled its leadership. As for Ms. Nasrin, she has been a target of Islamists ever since the publication of Lajja, a novel that captures her response to the anti-Hindu riots that broke out in parts of Bangladesh following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in late 1992. Her account of the communal frenzy a nd the mistreatment of the Hindu minority made her persona non grata in Bangladesh. Her views on religion, sexual freedom, and women’s emancipation have led to death threats from Muslim fundamentalists. The author, who lives in K olkata and is the recipient of a string of awards — including the Sakharov Prize from the European Parliament — is a woman of courage. She has not been cowed down by fanatical fatwas and other threats. The Hyderabad incident will certainly not silence her secular-feminist voice.

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