Taslima should come back and accept punishment

The recent visa episode of Bangladeshi writer in India once again showed the hypocritical attitude of Indians to the world, particularly to the Islamic world. I was just laughing when the Hindu nationalist organizations Bhartiya Janta Party and the Sangh Privar started creating uproar for Taslima Nasreen, the exiled Bangladeshi writer.

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It is the clear picture of double standard of Indian leadership when it took so much time in extending visa to Nasreen. However, when the question comes to the migrant from Bangladesh living in India, they start singing different tune all of a sudden. The Hindu nationalists start talking about ‘operation push back’ for the poor and hungry people living in border areas. They think that these poor people would turn India into Muslim country but they don’t hesitate in accepting visa extension of Nasreen. Gujarat’s chief minister had even called Nasreen to stay in Gujarat but the Indian government can’t accept poor refugees.

They welcomed Taslima Nasreen with open hands to live anywhere in India, but showed their MF Hussein, the living Picasso of India, door without giving a second thought on their decision.

For me, MF Hussain, 90, is similar to Bahadur Shah Zafar and even Hussain won’t get two meters of land for his burial in his own motherland. Indians can’t accept Hussein because of his alleged painting of naked Hindu Goddesses but they accept Nasreen even when she has written against Islam several times.

Bangladesh is not an Islamic country but the majority of the population is Muslim. Taslima, three times married and divorced, no children, financially independent and living alone, started writing provocative novels against Islam and became antithesis of womanhood in Bangladesh. It was unacceptable.

Her novel "Lajja" was about the suffering faced by a minority Hindu family in Bangladesh. Here in Bangladesh, the book was banned but was declared bestseller in India. It forced Taslima to change of place of living from Bangladesh to India. She once said in an interview: “I'm not in favor of minor changes in Koran, it serves no purpose. The Koran should be revised thoroughly."

She knows better the central belief of Islam says that the Koran is Allah’s word and it can’t be changed. However, she claimed later that the newspaper misquoted her statement when her statement set off an extraordinary chain of violence in the country. Several people even demanded to hang her and some issued Fatwa for her death.

She should come to Bangladesh and if she offers unconditional apology to the nation and Islam for the words she has written until now and accept the punishment for her wrongdoings. She has committed blunder by creating hatred against Bangladeshi Muslims by projecting them as fanatics. She even portrayed Bangladesh as a Muslim fundamentalist state and brought disrespect to Islamic values and culture. She even demanded to merge Bangladesh with India by giving the reason that Hindus, minority community, is not safe in Bangladesh.

She is responsible of promoting civil unrest by creating polarization in the society. She doesn’t favor the institution of marriage and displays contempt for social values and cultural traditions in the name of personal freedom. The government of India should cancel her visa extension and ask her to go back to Bangladesh and accept punishments for her offenses against Islam and her own nation.