taslima nasreen engagement report

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• Jul 22, 202618x their median

  Seeing the “cockroaches” gathered at Jantar Mantar reminds me of Bangladesh’s July 2024 movement. The students began with the slogan, “Quota or merit? Merit, merit,” and ended up demanding the fall of the government. Bangladesh as a whole is now paying the price for what followed. Militant jihadists have seized power. Brutality, communalism, religious fanaticism, misogyny, terrorism, and anarchy are destroying the country. Since the July movement, I have felt apprehensive whenever I see students gathering anywhere. I can no longer trust such gatherings easily. July 2024 taught me that not every student movement stands for democracy, not every anti-government movement leads to freedom, and not every revolution is truly a revolution. Some revolutions remove an old regime only to open the door to an even more frightening darkness.

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• May 19, 202615x their median

  Sheikh Hasina is currently a highly protected state guest of India. India is providing her with extensive security and bearing the cost of her stay, which likely amounts to enormous daily expenditure. Many people in India respect Hasina. They believe that on the opposite side stands Islamist extremism. What ordinary people often do not know, however, is how Hasina herself used Islam while in power—how she empowered fundamentalists, built hundreds of mosques and madrassas, granted madrassa degrees equivalence with university degrees, and, in the process, helped create generations of jihadist indoctrination. They may also not know how minorities, especially Hindus, were persecuted during her rule, or how hundreds of Hindus were forced to leave the country because of insecurity. During the crisis of the Awami League, India gave shelter to hundreds of League members, many of whom may themselves harbor anti-Hindu and anti-India sentiments. How long they will remember the generosity India has shown toward Sheikh Hasina and her party, I do not know. India stood beside the Bengalis in 1971, and it has stood beside them again during the crisis of 2024. Even while assuming that Sheikh Hasina may never return to power in Bangladesh, India did not withdraw its hand of support. Such compassion and solidarity toward a neighboring country is something we rarely witness in today’s world.

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• May 6, 202613x their median

  We must welcome back @taslimanasreen to West Bengal, give her a place to stay and appropriate security. The way she was treated since 2007 by the CPI(M) and TMC governments was scandalous - particularly considering that she had been writing in favour of Bengali Hindus who form the majority in this state and for whose sake this state was created.

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• May 6, 20268.3x their median

  This election in West Bengal was not merely an election for a change of power; it was an explosion of long-accumulated anger, exhaustion, and deprivation. People did not vote only to bring the BJP to power; even more than that, they voted to defeat the Trinamool Congress. A party that had once become the symbol of change gradually came to represent, in the eyes of many, the arrogance of power, corruption, and partisan domination.The list of allegations against the Trinamool Congress is also long. For years, opponents have argued that the politics of Muslim appeasement in the state crossed all limits, that the administration and police increasingly turned into instruments of the ruling party, and that corruption and extortion became institutionalized from the panchayat level to the highest ranks of government. The teacher recruitment scam, the culture of “cut money,” and the abnormal financial rise of local party leaders did not escape public notice. Villagers saw people who once possessed nothing become owners of enormous wealth within only a few https://t.co/ouQGBIRL6x the same time, a section of the population came to believe that instead of genuine industrialization, employment generation, or long-term development, the government relied on welfare-dependent politics to preserve its vote bank. Although schemes such as Lakshmir Bhandar and other social welfare projects benefited many people, the opposition successfully established the narrative that instead of development, “votes were being bought with allowances.”Government employees were also deeply dissatisfied. The DA movement, resentment over jobs, and the growing distance between the administration and citizens pushed many educated middle-class voters away from the Trinamool Congress. Allegations of electoral violence, booth capturing, attacks on opposition workers, and chaos surrounding elections created long-standing frustration and distrust toward democracy itself. Public anger also grew over women’s insecurity, rape, and violence against women, as well as the administration’s handling of such incidents. In many cases, the absence of justice, political interference, and insensitive remarks by those in power generated deep disappointment and outrage among ordinary people.Most importantly, many people came to believe that Mamata Banerjee was no longer the same combative leader she once was. After remaining in power for a long time, an atmosphere of personality cult, excessive centralization, and arrogance of authority emerged around her. The opposition successfully attacked this image and established in the public mind the political message: “Bengal no longer wants you.”History repeatedly shows that governments do not lose solely because of the strength of the opposition; they lose when people begin to feel that those in power no longer listen to them. In this election in West Bengal, that psychology played the most decisive role.Bengal was once not merely a geographical region; it was an intellectual civilization. It was the capital of thought, the center of renaissance and awakening. From Raja Ram Mohan Roy to Swami Vivekananda, from Rabindranath Tagore to Subhas Chandra Bose, from Satyajit Ray to Mahasweta Devi—this land built itself upon traditions of free thought, humanism, rationalism, and https://t.co/x5QZUV7y3b was in this Bengal that Ram Mohan stood against religious superstition, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar endured social hatred and humiliation in support of widow remarriage. Rabindranath spoke for humanity even against the blindness of narrow nationalism. Kazi Nazrul Islam wrote songs of equality and rebellion against divisions of religion and caste. Jibanananda Das discovered the lonely beauty of Bengal, while Sukanta Bhattacharya dreamed of a world free from hunger, poverty, and exploitation.The artists and writers of Bengal once refused to bow before power. They were the conscience of society. When they witnessed injustice, they protested. Rabindranath returned his British knighthood in protest; Nazrul was imprisoned. The question today is this: does contemporary Bengal still inherit that tradition? Or has much of today’s artistic and literary community grown accustomed to applauding power? Many writers, poets, actors, artists, and academics in Bengal are no longer viewed by people as independent voices; rather, many believe they are openly engaged in praising the rulers in order to receive patronage.There are, of course, exceptions. But the perception that has formed in public consciousness is that a once-protesting cultural sphere has largely transformed into a culture of dependence and obedience. Allegations have arisen that conscience has been traded away in exchange for state grants, awards, positions, committees, and invitations. When art surrenders to money and privilege, artistic freedom dies and literature degenerates into flattery.The issue of minority appeasement also played a major role in this election. Many people in West Bengal came to feel that under the name of secularism, a form of biased politics was being practiced. Secularism means that the state should treat all religions equally; but if one particular community is used as a vote bank, resentment among the majority population is hardly https://t.co/kTvxdAjtef of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh—temple vandalism, forced occupation of property, and persecution of religious minorities—has regularly reached West Bengal. As a result, many Hindus in West Bengal have become fearful of the rise of Muslim fundamentalism. They fear that if fundamentalism is encouraged for political interests, the social balance will be destroyed. Whether this fear is entirely real or partly exaggerated, its influence on the election cannot be https://t.co/KxaCqfiojz the same time, Islamist groups in Bangladesh are criticizing the BJP’s victory as a “victory of Hindutva.” Yet here a profound hypocrisy becomes visible. Most Christian-, Jewish-, or Hindu-majority countries in the world have established themselves as secular states. Yet in many Muslim-majority countries, Islam is the state religion; in some places Sharia law prevails, in others freedom of expression and the right to leave religion are restricted, and in many minority rights are curtailed. Many Islamist groups support religion-based states in their own countries while demanding secularism elsewhere. This double standard further obstructs modernization and self-criticism within Muslim societies.The political history of West Bengal seems trapped in a recurring cycle. Once, people removed the Left Front government because they believed the CPI(M), after decades in power, had become detached from the public. They rejected it over allegations of deindustrialization, party dictatorship, political violence, and minority appeasement. Riding that wave of anger, the Trinamool Congress came to power with promises of change. But over time, in the eyes of many people, the Trinamool also began walking the same path—only in a more open, aggressive, and reckless form.I myself have been a victim of this political culture. The CPI(M) government banned my book—a book written against religious fundamentalism and in favor of secular humanism. I was forced to leave West Bengal. Later, the Trinamool government also did not allow me to return to the state. Events around my books were stopped, and the broadcast of my television serial was blocked. Such treatment of a writer is not merely a personal attack; it is an attack on free thought, freedom of expression, and the right to question. A society that fears writers ultimately fears independent thinking itself.I am not a worker of any political party, nor am I a blind supporter of one. I believe no party is above criticism. Good work must be acknowledged, and wrongdoing must be opposed. In a democracy, the first duty of a citizen is not to become blindly partisan, but to preserve one’s conscience.Since people voted in hope of change, their expectations are enormous. They want corruption reduced, violence stopped, administration made impartial, transparency restored in recruitment, industry and investment expanded, and the education system revived. They want West Bengal once again to become a radiant center of thought, culture, art, literature, and humanity.But changing governments alone does not change society. Society changes when people transform themselves from within—when artists refuse to sell themselves, journalists refuse to live in fear, teachers refuse to become servants of parties, and writers refuse to stop speaking the truth. The great question before West Bengal today is whether it will return to its liberal, rationalist, and humanist traditions, or move further toward polarization, hatred, and the politics of revenge.Once, Bengal gave India the direction of renaissance, the courage of free thought, and new languages of literature and culture. Even today, people expect much from Bengal. At this moment of change, what is most necessary is not only a change in power, but also a change in political culture. Otherwise, history will repeat itself once again, and the people of Bengal will continue to move endlessly in the same circle.

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• Jul 19, 20267.4x their median

  I have been invited to Kolkata by an organisation called Secular Mission. The organisation is headed by a progressive Muslim, Osman Gani Mallik. Is the BJP taking me to Kolkata? No. Is the West Bengal government taking me there? No. The elected government of West Bengal is only arranging my security. Whenever I visit any state, whichever political party is in power there arranges my security. This is a normal administrative responsibility. Yet some Left leaders in West Bengal are blaming me for going to Kolkata. They were the ones who drove me out of West Bengal; now, according to them, merely setting foot in the state means that I am a Hindutva supporter, that I belong to the BJP and the RSS. I have visited Kerala many times at the invitation of the CPI(M) government. The Left leaders there welcomed me, honoured me and arranged Z-plus security for me. Did these Left leaders in Kolkata then abuse me by calling me a “Leftist,” or did they shower me with kisses of approval? They conveniently kept their eyes shut then. Do their eyes ever truly open when it comes to me? Why are they spreading these lies about my visit to Kolkata? I am returning after 18 years, 8 months and 10 days, and only for two days—yet even that is enough to make them burn with resentment. The Left Front government drove me out of Kolkata. The Trinamool government that followed did not allow me to enter West Bengal either. Not only that, it stopped the television broadcast of a long-running serial written by me and cancelled my book launch. Did Bengal’s so-called progressives utter a single word in defence of freedom of expression then? No, they did not. The truth is that many Left leaders cannot tolerate those of us who want to bring Muslim society out of darkness and into the light; who want Muslims to be educated and scientifically minded; who want to free them from religious fanaticism, ignorance and barbarism; who demand equal rights for women and human rights for all; and who want discriminatory Islamic laws to be replaced by modern laws based on equality. They want Muslim society to remain trapped in the misogynistic, fanatical and intolerant world of fourteen hundred years ago. They regard those who seek reform within Muslim society as enemies. And we all know that they have no hesitation in appeasing Islamic fundamentalists. That is why my return to West Bengal has provoked so much anger, resentment and false propaganda from them. Will these Leftists ever learn to be human? How much longer will they hide behind the mask of progressivism while speaking the language of jihadists? I also see some self-styled Left intellectuals spewing venom against me. Echoing Bangladeshi jihadists, they claim that I do not know how to write literature and that my books are third-rate. By any means possible, they must find something—anything—to hold against me. Let us assume that they are right: I am not a good writer, and all my books are third-rate. Does that justify putting a price on my head? Does it justify driving me out of my country and banishing me from Bengal altogether? The literary merit of a writer’s work will be judged by readers and by time. But whether the writing is excellent or poor, threatening to kill the writer or forcing the writer into exile can never be acceptable in any civilised society. Free thought, open-mindedness and tolerance—these self-styled Left intellectuals do not allow any of them to come anywhere near them. My only real fault is this: they believe Islam is a religion of peace; I do not. They cannot accept that the right to criticise Islam is part of freedom of expression. All their liberalism ends at the gates of Islam.

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• Mar 28, 20265.5x their median

  Arundhati Roy has said that she stands unconditionally with Iran. Standing with Iran, in this sense, means standing with Iran’s clerical regime. So was she also with Iran’s clerical rulers when, during the anti-hijab protests, the regime reportedly killed tens of thousands of progressive people who opposed the hijab? Was she not with the countless Iranian women who removed their hijabs, waved them in protest, and burned them? Surely she believes in women’s freedom. Surely she does not believe in the hijab—if she did, she would wear it herself. Then why does she side with those who enforce strict compulsory hijab laws? Although she has received awards and recognition from the United States, it is expected that she would oppose Republican governments in America—and that is her choice. But why, then, support Iran’s religiously dogmatic, anti-women government? The fall of Iran’s authoritarian regime is necessary. What Iran needs more than weapons is democracy, equal rights for women, freedom of expression, and human rights. I am not saying that the United States has to deliver these. Ideally, the people of Iran themselves would remove the clerical regime. But every time they have taken to the streets, they have been killed. So are they to remain silent forever, facing death whenever they speak out? Will the world of the twenty-first century continue to watch in silence the misrule carried out in the name of Islam?

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• May 10, 20265.1x their median

  The state of Bangladesh has once again proved that not all citizens are equal in the eyes of the law. A Muslim fundamentalist, jihadist, or extremist can openly spread hatred and still obtain bail, while a Hindu monk is left to rot in prison for months despite the allegations against him being entirely baseless. Chinmoy Krishna Das was denied bail once again today. Yet at the time lawyer Alif was murdered, he was in police custody. That alone rules out the possibility of his presence at the scene. The state has also failed to produce any clear evidence that he directly ordered, planned, or incited the killing. Even the so-called “flag desecration” allegation has weakened considerably. The propaganda claiming that a saffron flag had been hoisted above the national flag has not been supported by credible evidence. And still, he is not being released. Why? Because Chinmoy Krishna Das’s real “crime” was that he was trying to restore the morale of Bangladesh’s Hindus. He urged Hindus to stand with dignity, to stop remaining silent out of fear. He encouraged them to think of themselves as human beings despite attacks on their homes, the destruction of temples, land grabbing, violence against women, and the pressure forcing them to leave the country. It is precisely this awakening of self-respect that has become frightening to both the state and communal Islamist forces. For a long time, Hindus in Bangladesh have lived like second-class citizens. Every election season brings attacks; every rumour becomes an excuse to burn temples. International human rights organisations occasionally publish reports, but Bangladesh’s political parties almost always maintain silence. Standing beside Hindus has never been considered profitable electoral politics there. When Muhammad Yunus came to power, many hoped that at least a humane, liberal, non-communal atmosphere would emerge. In reality, what has emerged is something increasingly inhumane, illiberal, and sectarian. Through the treatment of Chinmoy Krishna Das, the state now appears to be sending a message: Hindus must not organise, must not protest, and must not speak loudly even for their own rights. Yet the right of minorities to organise is itself a democratic right. What is most alarming is the unmistakable smell of vindictiveness in keeping him imprisoned despite the absence of evidence. Under the rule of law, bail is a right, not a punishment. But in Bangladesh, bail itself is now being turned into a political weapon. First comes the case, then prolonged imprisonment — whether evidence exists or not. Questions are also being raised about Tarique Rahman’s politics. In the past, the BNP presented itself as a force standing for democracy. But if today its leadership remains silent while a harmless Hindu monk faces such state-sponsored injustice, people will inevitably ask: why have they too embraced the same majoritarian politics after coming close to power? This is nothing but filthy anti-democratic politics. Bangladesh’s gravest crisis is not merely political — it is moral. In this country, when a Muslim religious leader spreads venom against minorities, he is honoured as an “Islamic scholar.” But when a Hindu religious leader speaks about the rights of his own community, he is branded an “instigator.” Today, Chinmoy Krishna Das is no longer merely an individual. He has also become a symbol of resistance for Bangladesh’s Hindu minorities. By keeping him in prison, the state may be able to confine one man, but it cannot escape the question he has raised: are all citizens truly equal in Bangladesh? The reality is that Hindus in Bangladesh still do not live with equal rights; they live under fear, discrimination, and insecurity.

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• Jan 23, 20264.4x their median

  Excluded from the Kolkata International Book Fair. Excluded from the Cricket World Cup. Excluded from US visas. Yet India is supposedly the enemy from birth! If rice, wheat, onions, potatoes, sugar, medicines, vaccines, machines, etc. stop coming from India—what will happen? If cloth, yarn, dyes, and other materials for garment factories stop coming from India—what will happen? If water from the Ganges, Teesta, and Brahmaputra stops coming during the dry season—what will happen? If India’s doors close for higher education and advanced medical treatment—what will happen? If India stops giving Bangladesh transit routes to export goods to Nepal and Bhutan—what will happen? Bangladesh will remain Bangladesh. The spread of madrasa education is increasing—and will increase further. Children and adolescents will grow up making clay cups and becoming victims of sexual abuse. People survive through mullahism—and will continue to survive that way. Women will sink into the darkness of burqa and niqab. Faith-healing and religious charms will become more popular. Extremism will become the profession of the youth. Through extremism and terrorism, they will write their names in golden letters on the world stage.

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• Jul 20, 20264.2x their median

  Why am I able to go to Kolkata? Because the Secular Mission invited me? No, not merely because of the invitation. The invitation provided the occasion, but the visit has become possible because the West Bengal government is providing me with security. Without that protection, it would not have been possible for me to travel to Kolkata. For this, I am grateful to the West Bengal government. But why do I need security? Why can’t I, like everyone else, move freely through any city or any state? Because Islamist militants and jihadists want to kill me. They want to behead me because I have spoken the truth about Islam and critically scrutinized it. Even today, telling the truth about Islam can put one’s life at risk. The day Muslim society accepts free thought, freedom of expression, and criticism of religion as normal rights in a civilised society, no one will have to worry about the safety of reformers of Islam, freethinkers, and atheists.

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• Apr 14, 20264.1x their median

  This year, 78,500 sinners will travel from Bangladesh to Mecca to perform Hajj. Saudi Arabia will conduct the business of Hajj with these sinners. The Bangladeshi sinners will go to cleanse their sins. Circumambulating the Kaaba, perhaps—if luck allows—kissing the symbolic stone associated with the pagan moon god’s daughter, the goddess Lat; and stoning the devil—who has not been destroyed despite being pelted with stones for thousands of years—once again; these rituals are believed to free sinners from their sins. Are there only 78,500 rapists, murderers, liars, fraudsters, and corrupt individuals? No, there are far more than that. But they do not have time to perform Hajj this year. They will go next year, or the year after. Why this urgency to wash away sins? Is it to escape the fires of hell, or for the reward of the 72 houris? Perhaps both.

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