Swapan , thank you for writing this article . At least some intellectuals in India are secular . but I have objection to your view of similarity between two cases . That of M F hussain and Taslima. Taslima actually wants to stay in her country but M F Hussain is not willing to come to India because he has to face court cases . I think you should have brought this to readers notice .. any way thank you again

Bravo! Much needed words for a great person, that too a woman, who has stood up for humanity. As for the rest of the silent Indians, shame on you...

I first thought this might be an article from Shobha De because of the comparision between Taslima and Hussain but one look at the author name cleared the doubt. It will be really shameful if the permit for Ms. Nasreen is not extended. Way to go Indian Politicians. Hats of to you. You have just touch another low rock bottom. I don't mind throwing of Hussain. He is a black mark on culture of India and it is good that he has been thrown out of the country. I just hope that he never comes back to India. He is a filth and it's good to live without his derrogratory paintings. But Taslima is an alltoghther different ball game. Just because of politics if we are going to ask her to leave the country then we dont deserve to be called a democratic country any more. Why is Govt. not protecting Ms. Nasreen when it has done everything to protect Hussains infamous and vulgar paintings???

Swapan, wake up and smell the coffee. Indian politicians, almost without exception, are shorn of shame in their DNA. And India is used to being shamed more often than not. So...

This is a classical vote bank politics of the sonia congress.Getting rid of Tasleema Nasreen will bring votes of opponents of Tasleema.Shame on India indeed.

I hope she gets residence permit if not citizenship. Would be a real shame if she is deported. Shame on all Indians with even an iota of intellectual pretensions. Will TOI come out more vocally against it ??? Or political compulsions have gagged it too ???

Good riddence, she must be publicly booted for her views, it is easy to get fame and money by hurting religious sentiments,she is making her life out of critical comments against islam, other wise she would be begging inthe streets of dhakka

good riddence,she must be booted out,she is misusing indian hospitality to further her own interest.

State Assembly Elections in Bihar are round the corner. Congress & JD would like to defeat Nitish BJP. Taslima should realise this and leave on August 17, to come back later after elections, thereby making life a bit easy for the ruling party at the center. Taslima should have known that a moderate and gloved criticism of religion and religious people would be more effective than going over-board with it - if you want instant stardom, then be prepared to pay its price.

Fantastic article. Really, where are those who supported M. F. Hussain?

The contrast between the outrage of mainly english educated so called secularists over the plight of Mr M.F. Hussain and silence over that of Ms Taslima is very illuminative. In India any one can write or speak anything about Hindus and if anyone raises even a whimper he would be dubbed communalist and the authorities would declare that they will ensure that the constitutional right of freedom of speech will be enforced. But all these good samaritans would become silent if any obscurantist muslim clergy raises any issue of real or imagined insult to Islam and Prophet. It is time we the people attain maturity and judge issues on merit

swapan jee,how do you expect from a christian and muslim govt that taslima nasreen would allowed to stay india.it is a heaven for all the preachers of chrches of world and terrorists from pakistan to annihilate hindus.

Thanks for sharing the information that tasleema is leaving india..actually it's a good news.......Not only extremist dear author modern, democratic muslims are also against her living in india.thanks..

She is not only travelling "on a Swedish passport"; she is a Swedish citizen, with full citizen's rights, and since Sweden is a member of the European Union, she could easily settle down almost anywhere in Europe. India should feel honoured that she prefers to stay there; as an Indian citizen, she would be less privileged.

It is sad to see that Indians are forgetting the values they stand for. Freedom of expression is one of our fundamental rights and we should stand for it. We should protest against the narrow political mindset which is governing all the matters regarding Ms Nasrin. She is a literary genius and a venerate icon. She should be given a permanent Indian passport.

If GoI is so sensitive for the sentiments of secular fabrics of India, Great Dalai Lima should not be in India, five times laudspeaker noise in each village, city everyday should not be allowed. Bbhajans just opposite to churches is odd attitude.
Besides England, only India is the last hope for global individuals to have their open opinion and feel safe. On the issue of MFH, he is an Indian, must understand the indian values better than anyone. I would have no objection to him making 'nude paintings' of Hindu goddesses if we had made one for 'Allah' or Muhammad'. If Hindu majority India is giving real secular atmosphere to every indian, that should not be considered as weakness but as greatness, every nation of planet earth should follow us before they are critical to India or our way of life. There is no parallel to India were sikh is PM, most powerful person is christen, DM is christen, muslims were three times presidents.GoI should take pride of current India, no deportation of Taslima. We have such a great HM who so far successed in quilling unarmed oil industry strikers,but submitted resignation when armed moists challanged him.He is getting another chance to show his metal through Taslima.

what a shame for Country like India? so called secular country who know know only to go after one religion while ignoring the other...shame shame shame!!!!

ya i agree with this. being such a democrartic country, with true morals we cant give shelter to a women writer!!.

Swapan,

Are you a representative of BJP or a specialist/analyst of BJPian politics.

Swapan Dasgupta, Your article is commendable, but it can not turn the table . Politicians are too greedy for money and power to anger their Muslim 'parents', media is too scared of them, our intellectuals will not derogate their status by criticising Muslims, and our present day youth are so content with their internet that it hardly matters to them that the politicians are just ravaging the nation for their personal gains!! Do we see any protest anymore from the youth that we witnessed in 70s or 80s!!!
I am concerned that, almost all Hindus now are scared to speak openly against Muslims. This fear will gradually swallow the entire nation, God forbid, we will again become their slaves - that is their intent. Wake up youth, protest, where it is necessary. Denying Visa to Taslima is not the issue, the issue here is to stand for due cause, not to succumb to arm twisting, or to terror tactics.

Mr. Swapan Dasgupta seems to have tied himself in knots trying to equate MF Hussain with Taslima Nasreen. For one, Mr. hussain's paintings were not done with malicious intent (indeed, most muslim conservatives have indicated that he deserved his predicament for being too fond of Hindu dieties). Ms Nasreen, on the othjer hand, has been deliberately insulting and full of hate.

Secondly, Mr Dasgupta's clamour for retaining Nasreen for her ability to insult Islam seems to be in marked difference to his (and his friends')determination to keep Hussain out of India. Isn't it ironic that while Mr Dasgupta vehemently defends a bangladeshi's right to stay in India, he doesn't have a problem with an indian citizen being hounded out! Why, Is his religion more sacred than someone else's?

Seondly, it's intersting that TOI allows articles from only those affiliated with the Sangh Parivar - which incidentaally come packaged with their mandatory derogatory references to religions or political formations that do not subscribe to their worldview, particularly Islam and Muslims. How about eqaul treatement, editor? How about articles form those asking why justice does not get done everytime the Sangh goes on a spree of rape and murder - as in Mumbai, Gujarat, Surat, Bhagalur and more(and now, bombs as well)? How about asking why some people are considered lesser citizens that others, with access to little or no justice? Will you even be able to print this comment, let alone allow such articles on your hallowed (shall i say "pure" - as in "untouched" by second class citizens) site?

There's a stark contrast between someone insulting a religion and someone trying to portray the truth. I think the blogger is either saying that a nude Goddess Saraswati, Sita Devi and Bharat Mata is right moral for the country.

This is the height of pseudo-secularism India has seen.

Minority Appeasement to its best. I think the blogger should leave Blogging and join either BJP or Congress or CPI

Pls tell us, the common Indian, who we can write to in support of Taslima so that she can remain in India. Perhaps if the department of whatever received thousands of emails the cowards would do the right thing and let her stay.

where appeasement of minorities is concerned, we certainly are tops!!! it is a shame that India which always has given shelter to those asking for it is behaving in this way. now, will we start fearing Bangladesh? Muslims all over the world must learn to be tolerant- dissent does not mean the end of the faith. one's beliefs must be strong enough to endure dissent and even derision. the cave-man mentality must go, and discussion must be encouraged. this is the basis of the progress the west has made. I hope our government wakes up and doesnt do a Rushdie again!!!

about tasleema one can say that congress politicians are without shame. they are
hypocrites - a stain on indias honour. how about sonia- another hypocrite.

India has been known for promoting aestheticism since the dawn of civilization and Nasreen nurtures it with devotion.Hence she must be granted Indian citizenship what to talk of deporting her.All intellectuals must come together to ensure it.

Manmohan Singh is the worst PM India had or will have. He is gutless and needs advise from the Italian lady every minute. TOI and Congress keep yelling about so-called "Hindu vigilante" but are quite like a mouse about Muslim violence in India. When Indian media is high jacked by the anti-Hindu and anti-national Congress what hope is there for India's true citizens ? Throw Congress on the heap of rotten eggs of history.

Plain and simple Congress and its cronies don't want to hurt their Muslim vote bank. They have followed the British example of divide and rule. Its a shame Indians still fall for this scam 60 years after independence.

Dear Mr. Dasgupta,

It is not clear what your article is batting for? Is it the freedom to expression, or exposing the ills in Islam and Hinduism? I have not read Ms. Nasreen nor I have seen Mr. Hussain's paintings. However, I take it their creations are offensive to the two religions. You say Ms. Nasreen's articles are literary in nature, though relentless but not outlandish. Can we say the same thing about Mr. Hussain's paintings: That they are literary but not outlandish. I am not sure what ills of Hinduism is he fighting against through his paintings. As I said I have not seen either's work but a big difference between Ms. Nasreen and Mr. Hussain is that while the former has highlighted the alleged ills in Ismam, Mr. Hussain has chosen to keep quite about those qualities of his own religion but chosen to express his views on Hinduism. In any case, it is important to realise that one must balance the privilege or right to express freeely with respect for the audience.

Indians are of double standards, and it runs deep in our psyche. We are a nation which is unfit to follow the great sayings in the Vedas. It is no surprise that for appeasing a particular community, a person who pens the truth will be deported. Indians are incapable of handling historical truth. I would beg Ms Nasreen to go as far away from India as possible, lest it would pollute her intellect.

What prevent Taslima from giving up Islam and makinf a fresh beginning in life? Surely, she can nor reform her nation or its religious infirmities from here in India

This is an extreamly depressing development, in terms of the developlment of Indian secularism. The right to free expression and the freedom to hold views that are contrary to the majority view must be protected. Failing which we forfit our right to call ourselves a free society.

Wonderful article

RSS and BJP should take up this issue and offer her safe residence in one of the BJP ruled states.leaders of opposition in Parliament and Rajyasabha should raise this issue and plead for a full fledged citizenship for her.

Equating M. F. Husain's exile with Taslima's impending banishment is incorrect. The former left voluntarily to escape legal action, which his critics have a democratic and constitutional right to launch. Taslima is threatened expulsion by a Jihad-friendly Indian establishment and she has been setenced to death. Her crime has been to protest the treatment of Hindus in Bangladesh (hardly a novel perception) and reservations about Islam's treatment of women again, not so novel either). The world class artist, whom Swapan Dasgupta regularly defends in print, protrayed Hindus deities engaged in acts of bestiality, something even the arch secular editor of the HT found extraordinary. Swapan Dasgupta needs to get his logic straight instead of implicitly comparing well-grounded Hindu outrage with Mullah-backed incitement to murder of Taslima for speaking the truth

Not only politicians, but the majority of the population are indifferent to Muslims and Islam. Some of the Muslim artists have upset their coreligionist so who gives a damn as long as it does not impact on the majority. It is a different story when a Muslim upsets the majority by his paintings.It is in Hindu psyche that Muslims really don't belong to India so why bother! They will disappear one of these days? Of course they are Indians and India is their country.We got to tolerate them, but how? Let us ghettoise them! They can do what ever they want to do in their ghettos!These are some of the argument I hear. There are others,but they are not printable!Taslima you are caught between a rock and a hard place. You will not be welcomed even in Brick Lane in London! Have you considered Alaska?

hi, while the points highlighted are valid, i think it is in NO WAY a shame to our country. Why should we keep her giving asylum. Her safety is absolutely not India's prerogative. We did as much as we could-give her a place for 7 years . But by giving her shelter if we gonna face violent protests etc. because of an authoress who is not even Indian does not make sense. So i disagree entirely with the title.

let her taste her words
she will probably get a visa to UK OR USA

SWAPNJI, VERY NICE AND EYE OPENER ARTICLE BUT POWER HUNGRY POLITICIANS OF THIS COUNTRY WILL NEVER BOTHER ABOUT PRINCIPLES AND SECULARISM FOR THEM APPEASEMENT OF MUSLIM RADICALS AND PRO TALIWANI ELEMENTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT AS THEY ARE VOTE CATCHERS FOR OUR LEADERS.IN INDIA SECULARISM MEANS TO APPEASE MUSLIMS AND HUMILIATE HINDUS.SINCE TASLIMA!S ARTICLE DESCRIBING ATTROCITIES ON HINDU LADIES BY BENGLADESHIES MUSLIMS IN HER BOOK LAZZA WAS NOT LIKED BY RADICAL MUSLIMS SO FIRST WB GOVT SENT HER FROM STATE UNDER PRESSURE FROM MUSLIMS AND THEN UPA DID THE SAME THING FIRST HOUSE ARRESTED IN DELHI AND THEN FORCED TO LEAVE COUNTRY.EVEN HER ATTACKERS AT HYDERABAD WERE NOT PUNISHED AS THEY BELONG TO RULING PARTY.PM/SONIA GANDHI ARE INTERESTED IN VOTE BANKS THAT IS WHY SHE WAS TREATED LIKE THIS.IT IS DISGRACEFUL AND INSULT TO OUR NATIONAL!S SECULARISM CHARACTER.A LETTER SIGNED MY EMINIENT PERSONALITIES AND INTELLECTUALS FROM UK AND FRANCE WAS SENT TO PM ASKING HIM TO ALLOW TASLIMA IN INDIA BY EXTENDING HER VISA BEING A SECULAR COUNTRY WHERE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS ALLOWED BUT I DONT THINK SONIAJI WILL ALLOW IT AS SHEIS PAVING WAY FOR RAHUL TO BE NEXT PM.BUT MOSE SURPRISING THING IS THE QUIETNESS BY MEDIA,POLITICAL PARTIES,NGOS,COLUMNISTS AND HUMANRIGHTISTS.THOSE WHO WERE ADVOCATING HUSSAIN WHY THEY ARE NOW QUIET WHILE FIZA WAS ACCUSED OF INSULTING SENTIMENTS OF HINDUS AND INDIANS BY MAKING NUDE PAINTINGS OF MOTHER INDIA AND HINDU GODDESS.BUT I AM ASHAMED OF POLICIES AND HYPOCRACY OF OUR GOVT WHO IS ALWAYS USING DOUBLE STANDARD.THIS INCIDENT WILL SPOIL THE NAME OF OUR NATION IN FREE AND SECULAR WORLD.SHAMEFUL AND DISGRACEFUL.

Religion is the opium of masses, it masks spirituality. All books, religious or secular, should to open to scrutiny. Only those books which preach violence against opponents should be banned. We should hang our heads in shame on what happened to Bhandarkar library, Taslima, Rushdie and Hussain. If you do not like a book, criticize it in print, nothing more. Violence must be met strictly. Enough is enough. Grant Taslima visa so that we can proudly say that we are Indians. All parties should meet and decide on vote politics. They must make an autonomous quasi judicial censorship commission on the lines of Election Commission to decide on banning a book or a person. This will save politicians from vote bank responsibility.

THIS JUST SHOWS OUR GROWING INFLUENCE ........OUR POPUATION IS INCREASING.........ISLAM IS THE FUTURE OF INDIA.

While I agree with you that everyone should be allowed freedom of speech. Please do not make the statement that her books have merit. I have read some books of her's and they are pure rubbish. She in that way is similar to Arundati Roy, writes rubbish but still regarded as great writers.

I have read the interesting feedback from people representing both Hindu and Muslim communities.

I would like to ask my esteemed Muslim friends one thing and that is would I a Hindu be allowed to freely express my opinion on this topic in the same way in Pakistan or Bangladesh, as they have done while living in India. The Muslims everywhere even in Australia where I presently reside criticise the country and the majority population and want to enforce their medieval and outdated traditions and practices but what about allowing the same rights to the minorities in their Islamic countries ?

The biggest blunder the founding fathers of India including Gandhi and Nehru did was not follow the principle of the 2 nation theory to its core i.e. Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan. The problem of Kashmir wouldn't have surfaced as Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and others would have settled in Kashmir. Of course our Honourable Chachaji Nehru would have never wanted it as it would have offended his Muslim friends.

Congress should for once renounce its Muslim appeasement policy and grant citizenship to an intellectual like Taslima Nasreen

Well, I got the editor's point. The main quality to become an intellectual is he/she should insult Islam/Muslims and don't do the other way around. Indians are more concerned about a Bangladeshi's right to live in India rather than an Indian's right to live in India. The only deciding factor is that the Bangladeshi has insulted Islam but the Indian unfortunately depicted Hindu goddesses in a similar way to many of the Hindu temple paintings. When will our country get rid of this unlimited hatred for muslims? How many masjids you have to demolish and how many rapes and genocides are left to carry out until you understand the sentiment of Indian muslims? There are nations like Indonesia and Malaysia where the Muslims and other religions live happily by keeping the values of secularism. But in India, with the Islamophobia being promoted by media and so called intellectuals, the people are still hysteric. Why the western world offered asylum for Taslima alone while not doing the same for a similar fated MF Hussain? The west's freedom of expression is only applicable if the expression is against Islam. Indians want to support anybody who is against the muslims, be it Israelis, Taslimas, Americans, British or anybody. They forget the fact that even after under muslim rule for hundreds of years, the majority of Indians are still Hindus. If the muslim rulers have ever wanted to convert Hindus to muslims, they could have done it very easily. But that didn't happen because Islam doesn't support violence. The same Hindus are employed in the muslim middle east and earning even more money than muslims from India. But even then they hate Muslims and want to destroy Islam and muslims from earth. Why is this deep rooted intolerance? If some muslims have carried out any bombings or attacks, it was a result of the unlimited brutality they had to bear. Riots, Rapes and demolitions of masjids made them to defend their religion.

Believe me, if BJP in power they will also denied extension and utilize this opportunity to gain Muslim Support.