RELIGIOUS fundamentalism raised its ugly head in Hyderabad on August 9 when Taslima Nasrin was attacked without immediate provocation by legislators of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM).
The mob led by them made no secret of its determination to eliminate her. Perhaps, the venue, the Press Club of Hyderabad, and the presence of journalists restrained them. We are proud of our MLAs as Taslima Nasrin needs the harshest punishment for her writings against Islam. The next time she comes to Hyderabad, we will implement the fatwa [of death] against her, thundered Akbaruddin Owaisi, the MIM floor leader in the Assembly.
Owaisi was clearly happy that the trio of MLAs, Syed Ahmed Pasha Qadri, Afsar Khan and Mozzam Khan, managed to barge into the Press Club, smash door panels and hurl bouquets, books and even chairs at a woman. Taslima escaped physical injury and put on a brave face though she confessed later that she feared she was going to be killed. She must thank Narisetti Innaiah, a well-known rationalist and chairman of the Centre for Inquiry, that she was not as he bore the brunt of the assorted missiles. Taslima was launching the Telugu translation of her book Shodh and also Jung Changs bestseller Wild Swans, a book proscribed in China.
The attack showed that fundamentalism knows no boundaries inasmuch as it exposed the pusillanimity of the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government in arresting it. It reminded one of the Gujarat governments indifference when Chandramohan, a student from Andhra Pradesh, was forced to spend five days in prison after being targeted by Hindu fundamentalists at the M.S. University, Vadodara. The governments benign response to the attack on Taslima evoked anger. The police filed a case against Taslima and released the MLAs on bail: an unequivocal sign that political compulsions are more important than the responsibility of maintaining law and order.
The Congress leadership did not want to displease the MIM, an ally, as Muslim votes will be crucial in the overdue elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. The MIM wants to be seen as a torch-bearer of Muslim interests. Owaisi summed it up, saying, We are Muslims first and MLAs next.
MIM leaders and sections such as its breakaway faction, the Majlis-e Bachao Tehrique, as well as the Urdu press have refused to condemn the attack. They have gone to the length of lampooning the MLAs for hurling bouquets instead of footwear. The governments reluctance to act against the MIM has shattered the image of the Hyderabad police. It has left people with the feeling that the police can do little when a political party flouts the law and plays the religious card. Defending the freedom of expression is clearly not on the governments agenda.
S. Nagesh Kumar in HyderabadCOMMents
COMMents
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