Taslima Nasreen’s Asylum

This post took a long time to come. I apologize for that.
I asked a simple question, “I will like to know what you think about this issue. Why Taslima Nasreen shouldn’t be granted political asylum in India? On what ground her plea should be rejected?”
I wanted to write about your views, which are quite interesting.

While I was going through your responses, one fact struck me clearly, that most of my fellow bloggers accessed the situation practically. I was particularily looking for that most used and abused word “SECULAR� and freedom of expression, individual liberty, right to life etc. But very few of you debated the issue on this ground.

Manish Says:

“Logically speaking, she should be allowed to stay in here. But the contradiction is – what happens to miniority vote. When we can’t give justice to our own citizen Shah Bano, who only demanded compensation, how come we can give justice to others. It’s the same people in the government!â€?
Manish says a lot in few lines. This sums up the policy of our government and how it plays the secular card.

Vaibhav Says:

“Yes Taslima Nasrin should be granted a political asylum.�

Vaibhav has chosen not to assign any reason for his view.

Tony says:

Its not a problem giving Tasleema asylum, but i doubt if India would be the best place for her. Anyway with the kind of spineless leaders we have, no point even discussing..

Tony fears for Taslima’s well being in India. Well we are not THAT resourceful as a State to spend so much money on her.

Jammy says:

“No reason what so ever to stop her from seeking asylum in India….am with you…�

Jammy decided not to be very articulate about the issue.

Anonymous Says:

“pressing thoughts those…but whatever said in all hose comments about we handling our own stuff forst and then play Big brtohter..and othe rthigns abt Rajiv Gandhi..i guess its about time that we realise that we are a power to reckon with in our region..and i guess power brings friends and foes along with it..but we should only do whats right..as Indians we always tend to look at things from the perspective of being fair and giving everbody a fair chance to live,survive ,co-exist..and We Should stick to it..By all means..So lets Grant her Asylum if we have to ..but lets not compromise with what values we stand for..As Indians..�

Well said.He /she decided to look into things from moral point of view. Anon discusses right and wrong and also states the for being strong you lose some friends and gain some. He also invokes the sense of fairplay in politics which is so hard to find in present scenario.

Prem Says:

“My point of view is she should be allowed her freedom of expression and write more books with enough govt. protection along with some responsible post in some NGOs, which practically does some thing for the women to make them really free.�

Prem upholds the importance of freedom of expression.

Unsui Says:

“Well thats acceptance of government that there are more radical Islamic organizations which will cause the lady more hurt ,she is more safe in her own country )�

Unsui raises a very practical question, ‘Will she be safe enough in our country?’ A very vaild reason not to grant her political asylum.

Soumya Says:

“we already have too much bangladeshi influx… why have more of them…
on a serious note she has offended feelings of ppl of her own nation which i cant ever support… moreover if a person says something he shud stand by it and face consequences rather than run away from own motherland… may be i am wrong but i cant think of leaving my own country for whtever reasons and so cant support such moves of other ppl… moreover ppl in india oppose those bangladeshis who come to india so that thay can have bread to live but i see in ur comments box that ppl are not opposing her even though her case is not as appealing as of those who come for bread… these reasons of mine doesnt weigh for political decisions for which i can say ..
her presence is going to create disturbance here also…
we already have too much communal tensions and she wud definitely add to that… there is no ponit in losing peace for her.�

Soumya don’t want one more Bangladeshi in our country. He too fears communal tensions will raise its ugly head again, if we grant her political asylum.

Nilesh agrees with Soumya

“i agree with soumya. we should first resolve our own problems before giving asylum to Taslima.�

Tony tries to refute Soumya’s claim of Taslima staying in her own country.

“@soumya,
I am not much of a suporter of her asylum, but standing by one’s own view et al is easy in a country like India or USA. but in countries like N korea, China, iran or bangladesh( which might be slightly better) it difficult to stand by ur views. You either keep mum or you say it and run. the braves say it and run, you don’t want to be a martyr.. what with death fatwa and everything. i only opposed asylum because India is not yet strong enough to play power games.. tasleema could go to US if she wants to but India.. We don’t wanna be enemies with all our neighbours..not now when China has 400 nuke warheads and we have 30.. “

Anand Sharma Says:

“Your question is in the nature of a leading question and loaded against granting political asylum to Tasleema.I dont know if we have ever given asylum to any other author earlier.No government , ruling a country like India should create controversies internally and displease a neighbour by granting political asylum to Tasleema Nasreen,even if to protect freedom of expression in the world.�
Anand finds my question skewed and loaded. 🙂 but he too discusses practical issues and stresses on maintaining good relations with our neoghbours.

AmitL Says:

“well,on humanitarian grounds,it’s all right.But,why did she pick only India?What about other countries?Or,is she sure now that they are not soo religiously welcoming as our secular country is?�

Well AmitL, whatever information I have gathered from print media, Taslima Nasreen says that she feel at home in West Bengal, rather Kolkata. She finds the language, food, culture almost same. Though she was granted political asylum in European countries too, but she wants the feel of home, which is only available in Kolkata.

Tarun Says:

“I don’t know if she is trying to get political asylum in India or not but if yes then it will be better for India to reject Taslima Nasreen’s plea. India is not strong enough to deal with religious extremist (hindu or muslim or anyone else). She can face the same problem here too for which she is planning to leave her country. She will also become political trishanku among various political parties. Even some group of handful people don’t believe India is their motherland and this could be see in multiple occassions. But being a educated intellectual person very few chances the she will be part of that group. Now long time back one of Indian citizen (Salman Rushdi) took asylum and then later citizenship (I am not sure if he got it yet or when?) in UK for the same reason for which Taslima is looking for asylum. He was threaten by same religious extremist and that was in India as well in UK too. Apart from all these there will be political consequences too with the Bangladesh, this could be dealt easily but right now India neither have strong political system, neither political stability nor a strong leader. USA will be much more secure place for her to roam around freely than India.�

Tarun thinks that India lacks the necessary political will and system to grant her asylum. He put forth his arguments in forceful manner.

In the end, I thank all of you for taking time out and expressing your views.