The Hindu : Taslima undaunted by `fatwa'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004

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Taslima undaunted by `fatwa'

By Marcus Dam

Taslima Nasrin

KOLKATA, JAN. 19. The controversial Bangladeshi author in exile, Taslima Nasrin, whose book Dwikhandita was banned by the West Bengal Government in November 2003 for containing passages that could incite communal passions, remains undaunted by the `fatwa' (edict) issued against her by an Imam of a city mosque last week.

In an exclusive interview to The Hindu here today, Ms. Nasrin, who is now in Kolkata which she calls her "home ever since I was thrown out of Bangladesh in 1994,'' said, "I am used to being issued such `fatwas' since 1993 even before my book Lajja was banned by the Bangladesh Government and hartals were held against my views on Islamic fundamentalism.''

"But this would not have happened had the West Bengal Government not proscribed my book. The ban has only encouraged the mullahs and this should be stopped right now. The `fatwa' is a sign of worse things to come unless one puts one foot down right now,'' she warned. "Unlike Salman Rushdie who sought the mercy of the mullahs after being issued the `fatwa' for his Satanic Verses I shall never do the same,'' the author who has been provided round-the-clock security by the State Government said. Even bouquets reaching her hotel room are checked with metal detectors.

Despite the recent threat, she is determined to go ahead with her plans to be present at the release of the fourth part of her autobiography, Sei sob andhakar [literal translation: All that darkness] — "an account of my experiences after I left Bangladesh'' at the Kolkata Book Fair to begin later this month. She has also been informed that the Hindi translation of the banned Dwikhandita will be released in the World Book Fair in Delhi next month unabridged.

She has, through a common acquaintance, sought a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, "who must have been under pressure from some local literary personalities to decide banning my book.'' She was "shocked and speechless'' when informed of it. "Bangladesh, I understand, but how could the West Bengal Government go in for such a decision?'' she wonders. Justifying the ban by suggesting that the book contained material that might foment communal discord "is a slight to the Muslim community and an underestimation of its level of tolerance,'' she said. As for the controversy surrounding some of her works, the author has an explanation: "This is only expected from a male-dominated society. I speak out against women's oppression and will continue to do so.''

"Is it not foolish to ban a book in this age? Let there be a debate on the issues I have raised. And let my readers decide on the worth of what I think needs to be written,'' Ms. Nasrin, who is now a research scholar at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, U.S., said.

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