Taslima buckles

After days of suspense Taslima has at last agreed to delete the controversial paragraphs in her book, Dwikhandito, when the next edition of the book is published. By doing this, the author has scaled down her rights to express opinion while living in a country that is not her own.

Her decision comes close on the heels of not-so-discreet advice by the foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee when he spoke on the matter in the parliament.

Liberals will feel bad about Taslima agreeing to back off, but if you look at it objectively it is likely that you realize that this is the best to have happened.

I’m not discussing the literary merits of her novel because I’ve not read it. I’m also not saying whether what she said in her novel stands the scrutiny of righteousness.

Instead I will simply point out what Pranab Mukherjee said in her Lok Sabha speech. He opined Taslima is an asylum seeker, a guest in India. And so she needs to remember that she cannot do things that hurt the interests of her host.

There is perhaps no doubt that even the most liberal amongst us will not like a guest in his/her own house who creates troubling situations for him/her by his/her actions. If that is true, Taslima should be no different.

I suppose she earns good amount of money writing spark-igniting novels sitting in the relatively safe haven of Kolkata and enjoying the glare of publicity.

Taslima may call this as her struggle, but if this is a real struggle, I’m afraid it stands out in stark contrast with that of the 1991 Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar.

When Suu Kyi’s husband died of cancer in 1999, she was offered by the country’s ruler to attend the funeral provided she never returned to Myanmar. Suu Kyi rather chose not to leave her country, and so remains separated from her children who live in the UK.

The point is struggle has many faces. Comfort and the luxury of freedom of speech Taslima clearly enjoys are certainly not among them.

There is one more relatively less-noticed fact that came to the surface in the midst of this fracas. It’s the fine handling of the situation by Pranab Mukherjee.

It will not be an exaggeration to say that he is the backbone of the UPA government, and is playing the central role that normally the PM does. Look at the way he doggedly pursued the nuclear talks with the left.

In September when he was attending the UN General Assembly, and the protests by Buddhist monks were being brutally curbed in Yangon, Pranab Mukherjee stole the limelight when he persuaded the Myanmar foreign minister to release the monks and initiate dialog with Aung Suu Kyi.

This is precisely what has been happening in that country, albeit slowly, and there is hope that Aung Suu Kyi will agree to talk to the military junta.

Pranab Mukherjee walks tall in the UPA regime, and is presently the brightest of all the stars the Congress has in the government.