Tag: Taslima Nasreen

  • Maybe they will, maybe they won’t

    In newer news – the Jaipur Literary Festival says it has not decided not to invite Taslima in future. It’s hedging. It hasn’t decided not to, it hasn’t decided not to not to – it hasn’t decided. Good that it hasn’t, I suppose, but really it shouldn’t be hedging. It should have told the “protesters” to take a hike.

    Late on Monday evening, Festival producer Sanjoy Roy said in a statement: “They expressed their anger… I heard them out. Explained we supported minorities in every way. Underscored that we are a platform for all points of view. Agreed that we should consider their request not to reinvite them (Taslima Nasrin and Salman Rushdie).”

    This led to speculation on the social media that the popular literary event will not be inviting Nasrin again.

    So they put out a statement.

    The organisers stepped in to defuse the situation. A tweet from the official Twitter handle of the event said: “Reports of us ‘banning’ @taslimanasreen from future editions of the festival are not true. No statement to this effect has been made.”

    On Wednesday morning, Roy tweeted: ” @PTI_News an erroneous statement saying JLF has banned Taslima has been issued by PTI. We have not said this. @taslimanasreen.”

    In another tweet, quoting what the organisers said, Nasrin wrote: “Why did @PTI_News publish false news that #jlf has banned me? So good to hear #jlf believes in freedom of expression.”

    Festival insiders told IANS that Sanjoy Roy met with the protesters and assured them that their demand will be considered.

    “It was done to control the situation and does not mean that we will never invite her again. JLF continues to be an open platform for all kinds of voices,” said an insider.

    Nasrin had appeared on the concluding day of the festival in an impromptu session, not disclosed by the organisers earlier.

    The session was themed around her latest memoir “Exile”, a cumulative chronicle of her days in Kolkata and the circumstances under which she was, in her own words, “hurriedly shifted, first to Jaipur and then to Delhi, confined to an obscure safe houses, and faced incessant pressure from senior officials and politicians to leave India” and is replete with dark imageries and repeated provocations.

    I guess it’s nice of the organizers to give her new material…?

  • Taslima resists

    India Today has more detail on Taslima and the Jaipur Literary Festival.

    After Bangladeshi writer and activist Taslima Nasreen’s impromptu session at the Jaipur Literature Festival drew a minor protest here, festival organisers said they will consider the protestors’ request of not reinviting her, a statement said.

    “They expressed their anger…. I heard them out. Explained we supported minorities in every way. Underscored that we are a platform for all points of view. Agreed that we should consider their request not to reinvite them,” Sanjoy K Roy, Producer of JLF, said.

    Protesting organisations including Rajasthan Muslim Forum, All India Milli Council, Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim Personal Law Board, had said yesterday that the writer, who has been living in exile since 1994 after facing the ire of fundamentalists, was a “disputed” personality.

    They demanded that no invitation must be extended to the writer again.

    It’s pretty shocking that Sanjoy Roy saw fit to let them dictate to him in that way.

    A furious Taslima Nareen took to Twitter to express her disdain over reports that she may not be invited to future Jaipur Literature Festival events.

    She did, yes. Of course she did. This crap has been persecuting her for more than two decades now.

    The struggle never ends.

  • But what do you mean by secularism?

    My dear friend Taslima showed up at the Jaipur Literary Festival on Monday, where the Times of India reported she woke things up.

    Till Monday, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) was a largely tame affair. And then exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin made an impromptu appearance on the last day, immediately drawing protesting Muslim groups outside the venue.

    Adding fuel to fire, the controversial author pledged her firm support for the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and underscored its importance in ensuring gender equality.

    Nasrin questioned the secularism of Indian state which was sheltering fanatics who issued fatwas and set a prize for her head.

    “Many Muslims do not want UCC but it’s urgently necessary for women’s rights,” said Nasrin, questioning why the ‘secular’ people of India were against UCC.

    The UCC is the same idea as One Law For All: the law should be secular, and the same for everyone, with equal rights for everyone, not special non-rights for women and other outsiders.

    The controversial writer slammed West Bengal chief minister Mamta Banerjee for paying lip-service to secularism. She alleged that Banerjee was in cahoots with the Kolkata-based Imam Syed Noor-ur-Rehman Barkati, who has issued a fatwa against her.

    “We proudly say this country is secular. But what do you mean by secularism? Why do you encourage Muslim fanatics to issue fatwas against people? For Muslim votes, you throw secular people out of the country and encourage Muslim fanatics who don’t believe in democracy and human rights,” said Nasrin.

    …

    This session of the ‘controversial’ writer was not scheduled at the JLF. Many in the audience were surprised to see Nasrin on the dais. She argued that fundamentalism cannot be eradicated by killing people or punishing people but only through secular education.

    Rejecting the idea of nationalism, Nasrin maintained her belief in freedom and one world. “I don’t believe in nationalism. I believe in humanism, rationalism, rights, freedom and one passport and one world,” added Nasrin.

    So of course there were the usual protests.

    JAIPUR: Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, who participated in a session at the JLF on Monday, faced the ire of Muslim groups who protested outside the Diggi Palace venue.

    Representatives of various organisations met the organisers of JLF and demanded that they should not invite ‘controversial’ writers such as Nasrin and Salman Rushdie in future.

    At a closed door meeting, organiser Sanjoy K Roy has apparently assured them that they would be careful from next year.

    They “demanded” – as if they had a right to keep Taslima and Salman out.

    Since the picture of Nasrin was carried by some newspapers, Muslim groups held a meeting at Muslim Musafirkhana early in the day to demand the cancellation of the event.

    On what grounds? It’s a literary festival, not a religious event. It’s nothing to do with “Muslim groups” so why are they demanding a veto?

    As the news spread, representatives belonging to different socio-religious groups and political parties raised slogans and held a protest right outside the venue. Though the police did intervene, the protesters refused to back out.

    Roy then invited them for a dialogue, which lasted for about 45 minutes. But he failed to convince them despite offering them a session next year on ‘why Taslima Nasrin and Salman Rushdie should not be called for the lit fest’. However, the groups were adamant and sought assurance on not inviting these two writers ever to the fest. They were later told that their sentiments would be considered while planning the sessions in future.

    Which rather proves Taslima’s point, doesn’t it.

  • The worst form of censorship

    Outlook India talks to Taslima about censorship.

    For noted Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who has faced the ire of fundamentalists on several occasions, self-censorship is the worst form of censorship.

    With attacks against writers, minority religious leaders, and atheist bloggers on the rise in Bangladesh, Nasreen says many authors have now been forced to resort to self-censorship to avoid facing fatal consequences.

    “In our part of the world we have problems regarding freedom of expression. Many people do not speak what they want to. And, most writers in Bangladesh now self-censor themselves. Otherwise they will be hacked to death. But, for me it is the worst form of censorship,” she said.

    “Even when I write for newspapers, editors cut several sentences before printing,” she said.

    She points out the truth: no matter what you write, it will always “offend” the “feelings” of someone.

    “My sentiments are offended by the death threats I receive from Islamic fundamentalists but that doesn’t mean I want to kill people for that. I have an inbuilt mechanism to face all this. The fundamentalists, however, are so weak that they can’t tolerate what I say,” she said.

    Despite being a permanent European citizen and an American resident, the doctor-turned-author refuses to stay anywhere but India.

    She’s very passionate about it. She wants to be where she’s needed most, and that’s India (since Bangladesh is out of the question).

    Expressing concern over how more and more parts of the globe are becoming autocratic, she said the world was becoming a difficult place for writers to speak their minds.

    “When writers like me are attacked here, we go to Europe. Now even Europeans have started having problems (Charlie Hebdo attack), so where do we go now?” she said.

    She also called for a consolidated fight against the ‘misogynist’ mindset prevailing in society to “make the world a better place to live in”.

    “If we want to change society we have to fight fundamentalists because they want to pull society backwards. I write for human rights, women’s rights and freedom of expression.

    “For a change I think we should fight misogyny and religious fundamentalism, otherwise it won’t be a better place to live.”

    Let’s do that.

  • A place where there is need for her kind of writing

    Taslima talked to a reporter about life “at home in exile.”

    India, Nasrin reiterates, articulating feelings she has expressed often, is “closest to home, to my bhasha, my culture. I relate to this society, feel I belong here”. It’s necessary to her very raison d’etre as a writer. “I am not a writer of romances. I am a socially committed writer; my writing is for freedom of expression, for women’s rights. I cannot live in a place where everything is ideal, where there is freedom of expression, human rights for all. I am a citizen of such a country (Sweden). I have to live near the oppressed, to see them up close, to meet them, a place where there is need for my kind of writing. I have chosen India for this reason – because I cannot go to Bangladesh.”

    That’s Taslima. She’s a lion.

    For all her conviction, however, it’s an isolating existence. “The fact that I tell the truth isolates me, but I know my message resonates with the oppressed, especially women. Only they don’t speak out in my support out of fear.”

    Taslima however goes on speaking out.

    Amazingly, her travails haven’t blunted her strident defence of women’s rights or moderated her words against Islamic fundamentalists. Last week, she was in the news for tweeting “FO” to the Muslim personal law board, which opposes the government’s move to repeal triple talaaq. Nasrin is unapologetic: “It’s laughable – that in a long standing democracy such as India, these ridiculous misogynists are being taken seriously. Institutions such as the Muslim law board are useless and exist only to oppress women. They speak of minority rights, but it is they who do not respect the rights of minorities – Muslim women. They should be told to FO,” she says.

    However, she’s optimistic about the general conditions for women’s rights and against religious intolerance in South Asia. “I was the only one writing about these issues in the 1980s. But now we can talk about them openly, the media can criticise Islam debate religious law,” she says. Some of the credit for that goes to Nasrin herself.

    Quite a lot of it.

  • Peak

    The Ansarullah Bangla Team has put out a new hitlist. Taslima’s name is at the top.

    The group reportedly put up a list of 14 names of bloggers and writers on social media on Sunday, which includes several Bangladeshi writers who are now living abroad.

    Taslima Nasreen has been living in the United States after threats to her life. She was moved to the US in May this year by the Center for Inquiry (CFI), which had said Nasreen was the ‘next target for murder by Al Qaeda-linked extremists’.

    Apart from Nasreen, , other bloggers and writers on the terror hit list are Farjana Kabir Khan and Asif Mohiuddin who are currently in Germany, and Arifur Rahman and Santanu Adib who are in the UK.

    I know Asif, too.

    Some of these names had also appeared in a previous hit list issued by Ansarullah Bangla Team in September, in which the militants had called them ‘enemies of Islam’ and threatened to kill them if their citizenship was not cancelled.

    Taslima tweeted:

    taslima nasreen ‏@taslimanasreen 14 hours ago
    Islamic killer group Ansarullah Bangla Team made a new hit list. My name is on the top of the list. 😱😫😡 https://shar.es/15qJSJ

    Bad.

  • Introducing Nirbashito

    Here’s the trailer for Nirbashito.

    It’s pretty powerful.

    //www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCzm7zx9ew

  • Nirbashito

    Finally released in Kolkata and on its way to the Alberta Film Festival is the award-winning Bangladeshi movie Nirbashito, which is based on Taslima. The English title is Banished.

    The Times of India last December:

    Churni Ganguly’s first directorial venture, Nirbashito, has been adjudged the best film in Delhi International Film Festival.

    The script of the film, which is based on the life of banished Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, has Churni playing the role of Tasleema, who, however has no screen name. In the film, the protagonist represents every women, which also tries to explain the tag line that accompanies the title of the film — A woman has no country.

    The film, allegorically, tells the story of Nasreen’s difficult journey after being exiled through the story of her separation from pet cat Minu. Interestingly, Minu, too, has a Twitter page and congratulated Churni on winning the coveted award.

    Yes, well, Taslima is separated from Minu again, thanks to the murderous bastards who keep wanting to kill her.

    “I am extrememly proud. I am overjoyed that the film is doing so well outside Bengal, even though it is yet to release in Kolkata. Recognition certainly helps one believe in oneself. This award has convinced me even more that stories such as these need to be told,” Churni said, after coming back to Kolkata today morning.

    Taslima tweeted today that it’s being released in Kolkata now, all these months later.

    Congratulatory messages for the Shabdo director and his powerhouse actress wife, now a powerhouse director too, has not stopped pouring in from the moment the news broke.

    Stars.

  • As long as she lives, she will not be silenced

    This is from April. I didn’t see it then. I’m glad I didn’t – I was freaking out enough as it was. It’s the Daily Mail:

    There is no hint of fear in her eyes as feminist writer Taslima Nasreen tells Mail Today that Bangladeshi terror group Ansarullah Bangla Team is plotting to cross over to India and then travel to the Capital to kill her.

    The group takes its ideology from Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Yemen-based al-Qaeda activist, and has been involved in the murders of America-based writer Avijit Roy and blogger Washiqur Rahman last month for “criticising Islam”.

    Taslima, if Indian intelligence agencies are to be believed, may very well be their next target.

    “Members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team are so brazen that they post online hate messages before they attack,” says Taslima.

    “They had done that before killing Avijit and Washiqur and now they are posting hate messages targeting me. It is scary. But as long as I live, I will not be silenced.”

    That’s Taslima.

    One of the reasons why Washiqur was attacked was for wishing Taslima on her birthday. On his Facebook page, Rahman also reposted a cartoon depicting Prophet Mohammed from French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. 

    […]

    “Washiqur’s murderers are madrasa students. They were brainwashed by the Ansarullah Bangla Team. They were ordered by their madrasa teacher to kill Washiqur,” says 52- year-old Taslima

    “Madrasas and mosques are breeding ground for terrorists. But governments still continue to build more madrasas and mosques all over the country to get votes from ignorant masses.

    “I am not surprised when I hear freethinkers are getting murdered in Bangladesh.”

    Jugantor newspaper in Dhaka reported on April 2 that Dhaka Mahanagar police detective department has come across startling revelations while interrogating Washiqur’s killers.

    They have reportedly confessed that members of the Ansarullah Bengali Team are infiltrating into India with a plan to assassinate Taslima in Delhi.

    I’m glad she’s out of there.

    It was such a joy to see her again last week. We hugged and hugged and hugged.

  • CFI gets the job done

    Here is the big news I’ve been sitting on for

    1. weeks
    2. the past several days

    It’s a press release from CFI:

    Amid Death Threats from Islamists, CFI Brings Secular Activist Taslima Nasrin to Safety in U.S.

    Center for Inquiry Establishes New Emergency Fund for Freethought Writers Threatened by Radical Islamists

    The Center for Inquiry has established an emergency fund to assist freethought activists whose lives are under threat by Islamic radicals linked to Al Qaeda in countries such as Bangladesh, where three secularist bloggers have been murdered since February. Outspoken human rights activist Taslima Nasrin, specifically named as an imminent target by the same extremists responsible for the murders of Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman, and Ananta Bijoy Das, arrived in the United States last week under the assistance of CFI.

    Taslima Nasrin

    Nasrin was recently named as one of the next targets for murder by Al Qaeda-linked extremists, prompting CFI to assist in transporting her safely to the U.S., alleviating the immediate threat to her life. Her safety is only temporary if she cannot remain in the U.S., however, which is why CFI has established an emergency fund to help with food, housing, and the means for her to be safely settled. An appeal will be sent out today to CFI’s supporters asking them to donate to this cause. Dr. Nasrin arrived in Buffalo, N.Y. on Wednesday, and was met by CFI staff.

    CFI has also heard from several other writers and activists in Bangladesh who are in similarly perilous situations, many of whom have also been specifically named as targets for murder for their secular advocacy. The decision was made by CFI that any money raised in excess of what is necessary for Dr. Nasrin will go toward a general freethought emergency fund to assist with the rescue of other atheist, humanist, and secular activists under threat.

    Donate now.

    Dr. Taslima Nasrin is a world-renowned secular activist and author, whose uncompromising advocacy of human rights and criticism of religion forced her into exile from her native Bangladesh in 1994. A physician by training, she has written innumerable books, articles, and poems, and been at the forefront of political activism for secularism, free expression, and equality. Since 2004 she has lived in India, but even there she has faced persecution and threats. She is now an associate editor and frequent contributor for CFI’s magazine Free Inquiry, and has been a repeat speaker at CFI events, as well as a longtime ally in CFI’s fight for free expression around the world.

    “Taslima is a truly international role model, as her work and her courage inspire people of all ages to question tradition, challenge dogma, and fight for human rights,” said Ronald A. Lindsay, president and CEO of the Center for Inquiry. “We could not stand by while her life was in danger, nor will we turn our backs on the other brave freethinkers in fear for their lives. I know our community will make a strong show of solidarity and give generously to this emergency fund.”

    “I lost a valued friend and ally when Islamic extremists murdered Avijit Roy, and since then, two more secular writers have been taken from us,” said Michael De Dora, CFI’s representative to the United Nations. “While it is truly up to the authorities of countries like Bangladesh and others to rein in this threat, we’re going to do our part to keep these people safe. We’ll need the secular movement’s help to do it, and I know we can count on this community’s support.”

    * * * Media Alert: CFI and allied groups will host congressional briefings on the threats to religious dissidents around the world on June 9, and on the specific situation in Bangladesh on June 10. Details here. 

    Additional recourses:

    First of all – if you have donation money to give, pour it out for this.

    Second – all the thanks in the world to CFI, and especially Ron Lindsay and Debbie Goddard and Michael De Dora, who made this their project.

  • Just a place where people talked

    A little more from Joseph Anton, which is an encyclopedia of the kind of bad thinking that’s been going on for the past week. It takes place in France, which is fitting, and mentions a beloved friend of mine.

    At the first meeting of the so-called “International Parliament of Writers” in Strasbourg he worried about the name, because they were unelected, but the French shrugged and said that in France un parlement was just a place where people talked. He insisted that the statement they were drafting against Islamist terror should include references to Tahar Djaout, Farag Fouda, Aziz Nesin, Ugur Memeu and the newly embattled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen as well as himself. Susan Sontag swept in, embraced him, and spoke passionately in fluent French, calling him un grand écrivain who represented the crucial secularized culture the Muslim extremists wished to suppress. [p 397]

    Plus ça change, eh?

  • Nirbashito

    There’s a film about Taslima; it won an award. Well we can’t have that, can we.

    Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP from Basirhat, Idris Ali has termed exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen as a ‘loose charactered woman’ on Sunday.

    “Taslima Nasreen is a loose charactered woman who plays the communal card. People who support her, eventually end up spreading communal tension,” said Ali. He also targeted author Salman Rushdie saying, “Rushdie was barred from entering West Bengal as this is a secular state and communal elements like him should be kept at bay.”

    The communal card, for heaven’s sake. It’s Idris Ali and people like him who are doing that, not Taslima.

    This apart, he lashed out at the director of Nirbashito – a film based on Nasreen’s life – for making the film which recently received the National Award. “I will not let the directors release the film in the state. If someone still does it, he will have to face dire consequences. This is the second time that I am protesting against the release of such a film,” Ali said. Directed by Churni Ganguly and shot in Kolkata and Sweden, the bilingual film was released at the Mumbai International Film Festival in in 2014. The filmmakers are yet to take a call whether or not to release the film in Kolkata.

    This is not the first time Ali has targeted the author. In 2007, he was arrested for allegedly inciting violence for getting Nasreen expelled from the country.

    But he accuses her of playing the communal card. How dishonest can you get.

  • Freethought in Bangladesh

    The BBC Bangladesh World Service talks to Taslima about the murder and about the safety of freethinkers. Her segment starts at about 4:20 but the whole thing is interesting.

    //www.youtube.com/watch?v=GonrwhSKKHU

  • One can imagine the pressure

    Taslima has a guest post by a neuroscientist at MIT, Garga Chatterjee.

    Many Bengalis take a lot of pride about Kolkata, as a centre for free thought and artistic expression. Kolkata, the so-called ‘cultural capital’, has demonstrated the increasing emptiness of the epithet, yet again. Taslima Nasreen, one of the most famous Bengali authors alive, had scripted a TV serial named ‘Doohshahobash’ ( Difficult cohabitaions) portraying 3 sisters and their lives – standing up to kinds of unjust behaviour that are everyday realities for the lives of women in the subcontinent. Nasreen has long lent a powerful voice to some of the most private oppressions that women face, often silently. The private channel where the serial was slotted ran a vigorous and visible advertising campaign – Nasreen’s name still has serious pull among Bengalis and the channel knew it. Nasreen had made it clear that the serial had nothing to do with religion. However that was not enough for the self-appointed ‘leaders’ of the Muslims of West Bengal who issued warnings to the effect that the serial not be aired. The commencement of the serial, sure to be a hit and a commercial success for the channel, has now been postponed indefinitely.

    Notice that the “leaders” are self-appointed, as religious “leaders” so often are. (Who asked Fred Phelps for his opinion? No one ever.) Notice how some “warnings” from self-appointed leaders are all it takes.

    One can imagine the pressure the producers and broadcasters have faced that led to the shelving of a potential runaway commercial success. As in the recent incident of Salman Rushdie being prevented from coming to Kolkata due to the protest by similar characters, one can be sure of the kind of role the Trinamool Congress government and its law enforcement agencies had in this affair. If the government is to be believed, it had no role in the criminal farce that is being played out unchecked. Muzzling free speech and right to expression does not always need written orders from the government. A phone call here, a verbal order there – these are typically enough.

    So much for free thought and artistic expression.

     

  • But suddenly everything is dead. Everybody is silent.

    Taslima wrote a post about banning and censorship two days ago, when the axing of her serial was threatened but not yet a reality. Go read it and look at it; it’s full of pictures of Taslima on billboards advertising the serial. There was a huge buzz about this serial.

    But suddenly everything is dead. Everybody is silent. The channel, the producers, the artists all are shocked.

    The police and a bunch of Muslim fanatics both asking the channel to ban my TV serial. The funny thing is that the serial has not started going on air but fanatic Mullahs started claiming that my serial ‘could hurt the sentiments of the community’. Mullahs don’t know about the story of the serial but they want to ban it because I have written it. They not only want to vanish me physically, they want to make all my ideas and thoughts vanished. I think they learn the trick from the West Bengal government. The West Bengal government banned my book in 2003 by claiming that my book could hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Mullahs have learned from the government that Muslim sentiments are very precious, their sentiments must not be hurt. So Muslim fanatics have the right to ban films, books, or whatever they like before they even read or watch those, to protect their so called sentiments.

    Because they “were told” that their “sentiments” MIGHT be hurt. Some anonymous messenger told them of a bare possibility that their sentiments might be hurt, and they considered that grounds for censorship.

    Ads say that the serial is about women’s struggle against dowry, trafficking etc. but the mullahs are saying that it is based on my life. These lunatic fringe try to find an excuse for their insanity. I am banned in West Bengal. So they think books written by me should be banned, anything based on my life should also be banned. These Muslim fanatics are minority in India, but the supports they get from the governments and the politicians make them more powerful and more lunatic.

    Taslima quotes from a source:

    In a press Conference Shahi Immam of Tipu Sultan Mosque of Kolkata Maulana Nurur Rahman Barkati and All India Minority Forum president Idris Ali said on 14 December that they are opposed to the Bengali channel broadcasting serial on the controversial author’s life.

    Maulana Nurur Rahman informed that he has also spoke to the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on the issue. Extolling the WB CM of being symbol of communal harmony, the Shahi Imam appealed to her to intervene and immediately stop the broadcast of the serial.

    Idris Ali said that there are so many writers even within the country and we don’t necessarily need to follow the controversial Bangladeshi author.

    Muhammad Kamruzzaman sent a letter on behalf of 22 Muslim organizations to the Police Commissioner of Kolkata Mr Surajit Kar Purkayashta on 13 December to stop the broadcast, which according to them would disturb the communal harmony in the state.

    The claustrophobic brain-dead horribleness of it speaks for itself.

    That was two days ago. The program wasn’t yet axed. The station was still squirming in the attempt to get free.

    Now all the TV ads about the mega serial with my name and videos are censored. My name and pictures are erased from all the ads. My name is deleted from their Facebook page. The channel is probably trying hard to compromise with violent fanatics.

    They are going to remove all the billboards. But will they be able to make fanatics happy? I do not think so. Fanatics will go as far they can. They know very well that nobody would come to support me in India.

    These fanatics are very good friends of the government. The politicians appease Muslim fanatics because these fanatics lead a very big group of ignorant Muslims. Who doesn’t want to get Muslim votes? They are 25% of the population.

    The channel is now giving a statement:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvuf2Rc0TSw

    The statement says :

    All characters of the serial are entirely fictional. No character of the serial is based on real people. The writer of this serial is NOT coming to Kolkata. The serial has no purpose to hurt anyone’s sentiments. It is not going to hurt sentiments of any religion or any community. It will definitely show respect to all religious communities.

    The producers are trying everything to telecast the serial. Ordinary people are eager to watch it. The channel already invested a lot of money for the serial. They are now in a very bad situation. They are not getting government’s supports. All the intellectuals are silent. Many are pro-Islamist leftists, they believe I am not worthy to get their supports because I criticize Islamists. Some think it is a Muslim issue, they should not be involved. The rest are just cowards.

    This is another one of those times when we need to combine our voices to make a stink.