The Taslima controversy has given the BJP a stick to beat the “secularist” UPA government and the CPI(M) with.
Party backs author, takes on UPA govt, and CPI(M)
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Sunday came out openly in support of beleaguered Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. It declared her a “victim of religious persecution” and charged the UPA government and the Left Front of complete surrender to Islamic fundamentalists for the sake of “vote bank politics”. It drew a parallel with the Shah Bano case.
The party is all set to use it as an electoral issue in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections. The Taslima controversy has given the BJP a stick to beat the “secularist” UPA government and the CPI(M) with. The fact that the BJP convened a meeting of its office-bearers on Sunday morning and passed a resolution on the issue indicates the importance it is attaching to the issue.
“The harassment of Taslima Nasreen by the West Bengal Government has thrown up an important question as to how a victim of persecution is treated by a civilised state in which the victim seeks a refuge as an asylum. Taslima is a victim of religious persecution in Bangladesh. She is a refugee in India. To eject a refugee under pressure from religious groups is to submit to hardline Islamic fundamentalists”, the BJP resolution said.
“The thought process which produced the legislation to nullify the effect of the SC judgment in the Shah Bano case involved a surrender to Islamic fundamentalists. This is precisely what the West Bengal government has done. It’s ironical that the PM and the Centre are silent,” the BJP said.
Taslima has been kept as a state guest in Rajasthan House, New Delhi, by the Vasundhara Raje government to send a message that it cares more for her than secularist parties.
The BJP said “there are only two priorities that the UPA government has — survival at any cost and perpetuating the politics of vote bank even if it affects national security and integrity.”
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