The anger is against my ideas

Interview with Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin.

ON August 9, Taslima Nasrin, the exiled Bangladeshi writer, was attacked by a group of fundamentalists at the Hyderabad Press Club where she had gone to release a Telugu translation of her book Shodh. The attackers, led by three Mem bers of the Legislative Assembly belonging to the Majlis e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) party, stormed the dais and hurled chairs, flowerpots and even laptops at Taslima. The protective circle that the journalists present formed around her prevented the attackers from reaching a visibly shaken Taslima. MIM chief Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi reportedly described the incident as unfortunate, but his son Akbaruddin did not mince his words when he warned that should Taslima ever return to Hyderabad, she would not leave the city alive. A week later, on August 17, S.M. Noorur Rehman Barkati, the Shahi imam of the Tipu Sultan Mosque in Kolkata, met clerics and demanded the deportation of Taslima within a month for insulting the Prophet in her writings. Representatives of the Majlis-e-Bachao Tehrique (MBT) of Hyderabad were also present at the meeting. A spokesperson for the MBT reportedly said, If the government does not take necessary action, the situation is such that she will be eliminated. The West Bengal government beefed up her security and extended her resident permit by another six months.

For Taslima, living in the shadow of death is not a new experience. From as early as 1990, Islamic fundamentalists have been baying for her blood for her views on religion, traditions and the discrimination against women. Taslima, a practising medical doctor, was forced to quit her profession. In 1993, her novel Lajja (Shame) was banned by the Bangladesh government, and the following year she went into hiding to avoid going to jail, where, she felt, she would be murdered. After two months in hiding, Taslima left Bangladesh in 1994, with several fatwas against her, and has since been living in exile under police protection wherever she goes. Speaking to Frontline, Taslima tal ks of her recent ordeal and refuses to be cowed down by threats and intimidation. I have never thought of apologising because I never felt I had done anything wrong, she said. Excerpts from the interview.

Hardly a week had passed after you were attacked in Hyderabad when certain Muslim clerics in Kolkata revived the old fatwa against you, and you have been threatened with dire consequences if you do not leave the country within a month. How are you coping with all that is happening around you?

Well, I am just glad to be still alive. I am a writer and I wish to express myself through my words, and I know that the majority of the people of India believe in such freedom of expression. Those who stand against such freedoms are far fewer compared with those who stand for it. My opinions, my way of thinking, are different from the fundamentalists and because of this difference they have, right from the beginning, decreed fatwas on me, led demonstrations against me, forc ed me into hiding, tried to have my books banned, burnt my books, burnt effigies of me, registered law suits against me. But the democracy in India is much stronger than that in Bangladesh and Pakistan, and I feel if there is any country in this subcontinent where I can be safe, it is here. Furthermore, I belong to this subcontinent, I write for and of the people of this subcontinent, I speak one of the many languages [Bengali] spoken in India. I truly believe that whatever be the demonstrations and unrest that are being orchestrated by the fundamentalists, the administration and the government will be able to contain them.

Did you think your life was in any real danger when you were attacked in the Hyderabad Press Club, or did you think it was another act of intimidation to get political mileage? After all, the attackers were led by three MLAs belonging to the Majlis e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party?

The whole thing happened so suddenly that at that point I seriously thought they were going to kill me. When I can think about it in retrospect, I suspect that it was more politically motivated because if they really wanted to kill me, they could easily have done so. But at that time I had no idea who they were. I had no clue that they were legislators and political activists. All I knew was that for the last 16 years I was a target for Muslim fundamentalists. From that time onwards, there have been public meetings and demonstrations in Bangaldesh organised against me, lakhs of people in Bangladesh took to the streets in protest against what I had written, a whole country was practically paralysed. That was when I had to go into hiding for two months in Bangladesh; after that I had to leave my own country and stay for years in foreign lands under police protection.

So, I am fully aware that Muslim fundamentalists want to see me dead and I have lived with this threat for years now. So, when that sudden attack took place, I naturally thought they were there to kill me. But now when I think about it in a detached manner, I feel it must have been a political move.

Later, I heard that another group of fundamentalists I do not recall its name criticised my attackers for not eliminating me. The situation has come to such a pass that threatening to kill a person is something that they take pride in as though to kill is a very noble deed. It is almost like a competition among these groups to achieve the goal of killing me. I am amazed how people can so freely and proudly make such threats in a democratic society. Some people from Hyderabad have joined the imam of the Tipu Sultan Mosque in offering a reward for my head. Do they not know the meaning of democracy? Are they not aware of the freedom of speech and the right to express oneself? After so many years, have they learnt nothing? If they have not, then it is the duty of the country to educate them. Monsters are created when you keep them segregated in their own darkness.

I am only a writer. I am not trying to hurt anyone. In all societies, through the ages, there have always been differences of opinion. Everyone does not have the same view; neither is it possible for me to keep everyone happy all the time with my opinions, particularly when you consider the subject matter of my writings social traditions and the rights of women. Those who wish to deny women their rights in the name of tradition will obviously oppose me; those who wish to remain in the darkness of superstitions and religious blindness will obviously oppose me. I have seen that attitude in all fundamentalists; be it Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, whatever, it is the same. They are opposed to the liberation of women and their right to enjoy the same rights as men. All rational people, and I include many religious persons among them, are fighting against such fundamentalism. Being religious is a personal matter. I have many friends who are religious, but they never harm anybody; they are not intolerant like fundamentalists. A fundamentalist, no matter of what religion, does not believe in plurality of thought and in individual freedom. What he believes in is group loyalty. From a very early age, I freed myself from the shackles of religion and superstitions; it cannot be forced upon me now, can it?

Has all this ever made you think that it would be so much more convenient simply to apologise as Salman Rushdie did and get on with your life?

(Smiles) Not too many people are aware that Salman Rushdie apologised. In fact, that is the reason why we parted ways. I mean, why should I cry out aloud that I found that act cowardly? He was annoyed that I had said so. But I have never thought of apologising because I never felt I had done anything wrong. If religious laws, practices, rituals and traditions were in favour of women, I would not have uttered a single word. I am a writer who uses simple language so that the common people can understand what I have to say. I basically write on four issues: human rights, womens rights, secularism and humanism. Are these not good issues? Do I stop writing on any one of these issues? Everything I have ever written was based on these four issues.

Such violent reactions are also a kind of assurance that I have been able to strike at the right place. I have always opposed those institutions and people who like to subjugate women, who deny women their freedom. When they react, I know I am on the right track. But one thing I am absolutely sure of: these people baying for my blood have never read any of my books, any of my writings. Do you think the imam of the Tipu Sultan Mosque or my attackers in Hyderabad have read any of my works?

If fundamentalists did not react, would you then consider yourself not successful?

No, thats not the case. I receive a lot of appreciation from women all over the world. I know I am successful when they tell me that in my words they find not just my story but theirs too, and from my words they get hope and courage. Not just women, many progressive men, too, appreciate my efforts.

You have Swedish citizenship and yet you have applied for an Indian one. Given the reaction to your presence here, would it not be safer for you to be in Europe?

Europe is obviously safer, but it is not my country. Here in Kolkata I speak my own language, share a culture and I feel I am amidst my own people. I can go anywhere in India and not be considered a foreigner or a stranger. Do I look any different from you? In Europe, I have everything fame, recognition, respect but I still feel like a stranger wherever I go. Here, I feel like I am home. I am hopeful that I will be given Indian citizenship. In fact, the other day Priyaranjan Dasmunsi [Minister for Information & Broadcasting, and Parliamentary Affairs] said if Taslima wants Indian citizenship, it will be considered.

Some years ago you told me that in Sweden you would try and give the police the slip and wander off on your own. Do you dare to do that here?

(Smiles) Yes, I escape from the police and security here too. But in Europe, I would inevitably get caught, and they would severely reprimand me. I am luckier here; I dont get caught. It is my dream to be able to once again move about freely without the need for protection. I had once written that I dream that the love of the common people for whom I write will one day be my protection against the fundamentalists.

Have you thought of taking legal action against those who have ordered your murder?

Threats and attempts on my life are not new to me. But the anger is not against this five-and-half-feet-tall person sitting in front of you; the anger is against my ideas. But it is ridiculous to think that I am alone in having such ideas. It is not about Taslima versus the fundamentalists. There is conflict in every society the conflict between secularism and fundamentalism, between rational, logical minds and irrational blind faith, between innovation and tradition, between future and past, between those who value freedom and those who dont. And it is not about Taslima and them.

I am not forming any organisation or heading any political party. I am only writing what I truly feel. If I am mistaken, then point that out to me, tell me in writing. Even among progressive thinkers there are differences of opinion on my works, and they let me know in writing. Debate and discourse is what keeps society from stagnating. I have never thought about taking legal action because I do not view my situation as a case of me versus them.

What are you working on now?

I am writing the next part of my autobiography. This one is called Nei Kichhu Nei [Nothing, Theres Nothing] and its about my life in the period between 1997 and 2002. I am also writing a novel, the s equel to Lajja. This is called Sharam, or Shame II. Unlike Lajja, this is not a political novel. Lajja was about the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh; the ce ntral character, Suranjan, escapes to Kolkata with his parents and his sister. Sharam tells of their life in Kolkata. Ive finished writing the novel and am currently revising it, making a few changes.