'The issue isn't Taslima, the issue is freedom'

GUEST CODE: The Centre wants Taslima to "refrain" from hurting people.

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Omar: Don't you think that Taslima has misused her freedom of expression? I am a Muslim but I don't have any right to condemn and write about religion, which she has done in Dwikhandita?

Sagarika Ghose: Can any artist or writer really cause harm to any religion? Can a single, small writer living in Kolkata harm a great religion like Islam? Of course not. Religion is like nature, even if people criticise it or abuse it, it goes on and remains as powerful as always. Religious sentiments are in their place, the rights of an artist are another. I think religion only becomes stronger is artists are free to question it in whatever way they want.

R Anand: Do you think West Bengal Government did correct thing by shunting Taslima out?

Sagarika Ghose: No I think the government did completely the wrong thing. In 1985 when the Rajiv Gandhi government brought the Muslim Personal Law Bill in Parliament, the West Bengal government opposed the compromise with fundamentalist forces within the Muslim community. Now it seems the government is pandering to it, so worried is it about the fact that a majority of peasants in Nandigram were Muslim, also that the Muslim community is very agitated over the Rizwanur Rehman case. So now the Marxists are so scared of losing the support of the Mullahs that they are destroying the freedoms of a writer.

Balvinder: In the larger interest of the country, instead of raking a meaningless debate on freedom of artistic expression we should deport Taslima.

Sagarika Ghose: Does religious hurt override artistic freedom? That is the important question. Taslima is simply a political football—every political party is using the issue to try and reach out to their real or imaginary votebanks. But artistic freedom is a very real issue and needs to be guarded jealously. Otherwise the only artists and writers we'll have in India will be those hired for state and party propaganda.

AB: Taslima has every right to pen her feelings, but don’t you because of her the ‘communal’ environment may get spoiled?

Sagarika Ghose: Taslima believes that India and West Bengal is her home and she faces persecution in Bangladesh. We have a long tradition of giving people refuge in India, and Taslima should be our guest. After all, atithi devo bhava! (A guest is like God) Why should Taslima change her residence just because of the political agendas of extremist groups?

M K Banerjee: The middle class and elite do not take interest in electoral process. As a result, right candidates are not elected in the end. Democracy becomes dangerous when people are not conscious and the wrong people are elected.

Sagarika Ghose: Democracy is not only about casting votes. It is about abiding by certain values: values of social equality, artistic freedom, engagement in civil society, and participating in public life. Sitting secluded in our own homes, trapped by suspicions about everybody is not democratic behaviour. Our middle class is far too isolated and it has failed to stand up for its basic freedoms. We are busy living in our private homes, with our private electricity and private schools and private transport and private spaces, with no engagement with the public sphere.