Against intolerant voices
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: February 03, 2012 -

Two recent events in the country once again underscore the adverse influence of undemocratic, intolerant, extremist voices who claim to represent certain religious groups and communities, on free speech and thought.

In the Kokatta Book Fair, Book Sellers and Publishers' Guild denied permission for the launch of Taslima Nasreen's autobiography under pressure from the certain groups of people who claim to speak for the Muslims.

But the publisher of the book in defiance of this denial of permission for lauanch of the book in the official venue went ahead with the launch in a makeshift venue, a laudable and courageous decision considering the stiff opposition from the fundamentalist forces.

Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi author has been a target of Muslim religious leaders, specially those in the fanatical fringe for her feminist views which are highly critical of Islam.

Right after the publication of her novel Lajja (Shame) in 1993, Nasrin has suffered a number of attacks.

She even faced death threats from a number of Muslim organizations forcing her to go into hiding before escaping to Sweden in 1994, and has been living in exile since.

Though she was very eager to become an Indian citizen, the Government of India refused to grant her citizenship, in most likelihood in deference to religious sentiments of the Muslims, hurting which could harm the political fortune of the powers that be.

Even today, she is a marked person and her every move is monitored, resisted and all sorts of roadblocks are still being put up against her literary pursuits.

In almost identical fashion, Salman Rushdie was denied permission to attend the biggest literary festival in India, the Jaipur Literary Festival by the Government of India, on the ground that he faced death threats in India.

Later, the organizers of the festival had to scrap their decision to make it possible for Salman Rushdie to address the delegates attending the festival through video links as there was distinct chances of trouble and violence.

With the crucial Uttar Pradesh election in sight, it was clear that the Rajasthan Government would never have come down heavily on those who are out to strangle freedom of expression in the name of defending Islam.

Such incidents are the result of the political parties pandering to religious sentiments for electoral gains.

It's not just the Muslim sentiments which are pandered to, the state remained a mute spectator when Hindu fanatics brought down the Babri Masjid, it hardly did anything to bring back MF Hussain who was literally chased out of the country by Hindu fanatics.

And, here in the north east and specifically in Manipur, similar though not the same sort of pandering also takes place.

The state government is wary of going against any individual or groups who claim to speak for a section of the society, community or tribe.

In the process they are allowed to carry on propagandas, activities in the name of the community or tribe however inimical it is to the interest of other individuals or groups or to the whole of Manipur.

Different contexts but similar approaches with similar result - stifling of diverse views, homogenization of interest and aspirations.

In present day Manipur, one of the bigger issue, which is rarely spoken of, is the dictatorial voice of most of the organizations and bodies claiming to speak for certain section of the society, a community or a tribe.

This issue, among other pressing issues should also be addressed.

For, only a society which gives space to various viewpoints will be a vibrant, enduring society.