The focus has shifted in West Bengal in particular and in India in general from the more pressing issues such as the failure of the public distribution system & ration scam,high prices of essential commodities like foodstuff , Nandigram etc. to the comparatively less relevant issue of whether Taslima should be allowed to stay in India at all , and if so whether she can return to Kolkata.
Naturally all the political parties are trying to score debating points rather than trying to solve the problem.
Let’s stop the blame game and passing the buck syndrome and discuss something constructive.
With my limited intellect here’s what I think can be done :
The Muslim fundamentalists see her writings as an insult to Islam. People who rioted last Wednesday, indulging in arson and other violent acts have done great disservice to the cause of Islam , which is supposed to be a religion of peace, and thus alienating the majority of the population which had shown solidarity with their Muslim brethren in the Rizwanur case. Most of the Muslims who turned violent on that day were under educated under privileged types who were obviously instigated by others with a more sinister agenda of perhaps provoking a Hindu – Muslim riot. The police showed great restraint in not opening fire despite many provocations. A firing on the rioting Muslim mob would have lead to a bandh call by the extremists leading to widespread riots. We can that God that their designs have failed, at least so far.
All muslims are not violence prone and extremists , there must be some cool headed folks among them. If they feel that Ms. Nasreen has hurt their sentiments by insulting their faith , they can always take alegal recourse. A petition can be filed in the Supreme Court challenging the central Govt’s decision to grant Taslima / extending her visa. let’s give both her detractors and supporters a fair hearing. Let the fundamentalists prove in the court exactly how Taslima has insulted Islam and let her supporters plead how she has merely stated facts