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

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

Other stories in the section:

Taslima flees, calls Indian govt fundamentalist

Bangladeshi writer says she is under extreme stress.

• Govt extends Taslima's visa, asks her to behave
• Nobody wants this guest, Taslima shuffled around

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• Taslima flees, calls Indian govt fundamentalist
• Govt extends Taslima's visa, asks her to behave
• Nobody wants this guest, Taslima shuffled around

Keywords: MF Hussain , Artists

The Centre on Wednesday assured Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen shelter in India but urged her to "refrain from activities and expressions" that may hurt people. Should artists refrain from expressing their views? IBNLive readers and CNN-IBN’s Senior Editor Sagarika Ghose debated this in a chat on Wednesday.

Vijayraghavan: What exactly has Taslima Nasreen said about Allah or Prophet Mohammed that is blasphemous? It seems she has written derogatory remarks about the Islamic clergy, rather than Allah or the Prophet per say. Are remarks against clergy blasphemy?

Sagarika Ghose: I agree, most of those who are protesting against Taslima have almost certainly never read her books. She writes about the persecution that Hindus have faced at the hands of the Muslims in Bangladesh. There's nothing that is directly offensive to religion.

Bindu Tandon: Is Taslima being hounded because she is a Muslim? And the Muslim right does not want to discuss reform in the religion and least with a woman who says that Islam has accorded in practice a lower status to women? But in addition she is a cipher for the politicians who have made a profession of equivocation.

One word from Sonia Gandhi will quell the ardour of the Muslim right-wingers but the position is to empty the situation of most of its drama before the Congress chief will say a word. Our politicians have been presented with an opportunity to discuss literature, liberty and libertarianism. But will they take it? That’s bad politics and we are in the thick of it. C'est la vie!

Sagarika Ghose: Sad that the greater issues such as liberty are concerned irrelevant to those who are in quest for votes. It make us believe that we are not really a democracy in spirit and behaviour, instead we are only a psephocracy, where the only ‘democracy’ we have is the regular vote-casting and vote-counting circus. The rest of our society, the rest of the time is pretty authoritarian!

Nand Kumar: Don’t you think that a country which preaches tolerance is becoming intolerant?

Sagarika Ghose: Yes, that’s true. It’s the politicians, who swear by democracy, who are dealing a body blow to democracy by the slogans they use and the issues they take up.

CROSSING THE LIMIT?

Farzad: Everybody talks about freedom of speech, but what you will do if I abuse you or your family in public? Will you protect me for freedom of speech?

Sagarika Ghose: We are talking about artistic and intellectual freedom here, not the freedom of an individual to talk about another. Of course there are laws in society which we must abide by, but an artist or an intellectual is not someone who should be restricted by rules. Else, how will they create? How will their imaginations roam free? How will they ask subversive questions?

M Vijay Balaji: Freedom of expression should have limits, but who decides the limits?

Sagarika Ghose: Freedom of expression does have its limits and the limits are generally laid down by the Indian Constitution when it comes to public actions and speeches but when it comes to art, I believe that freedom is absolute.

Rajesh: I feel that Taslima is relishing the publicity. I am not convinced that she is a true representative of freedom of speech.