Author: M Ratan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 14, 2007
Some discerning political commentators - like
Swapan Dasgupta and Kanchan Gupta in The Pioneer - have drawn an alarming
profile of Islamist radicalism, which threatens the nation's democratic and
constitutional fabric, in their columns in the light of the recent attack
on writer-activist Taslima Nasreen. The latest manifestation of Islamists'
fascist mindset was witnessed in Hyderabad when dozens of zealots of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul
Muslimeen stormed a Press Club function to attack Ms Nasreen.
The instigators of this criminal assault -
the MLAs of MIM - are not only unrepentant, but they also brazenly advocated
the killing of the writer as "legitimate under Islamic law". Her
'crime' is that she has been speaking out for oppressed Muslim women's rights.
According to the Owaisi dynasty, India should not shelter Ms Nareen because
she is not an Indian. In other words, she must be turned into easy meat for
them.
Mr Dasgupta has reminded us that the MIM is
a remnant of the Razakar movement of the Nizam days and warned all about the
mini "Islamic state" within Hyderabad that the family has set up.
The columnist's fear - the "MIM will go scotfree", instead of being
hauled up for its criminal breach of the law - is valid. After all, the police
have registered a case against Ms Nasreen for "hurting Muslims' religious
sentiments". The case has been registered on the request of Mr Akbaruddin
Owaisi, the prime provocateur who has flagrantly proclaimed his pride in being
a part of the criminal assault conspiracy against the writer. Some leading
Congressmen, like Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad,
have also criticised Ms Nasreen for her alleged anti-Islam writings.
One shares Mr Dasgupta's another fear that
her visa might be cancelled - or not renewed - to woo the Muslim vote-bank.
That would be a shame and a total negation of India's liberal and democratic
ethos.
The Owaisi family has two political siblings,
also known as "the Bangalore brothers", who were similarly brought
up as the bigoted foot soldiers of Islam. The extent of the brainwashing they
underwent in childhood and youth leaves us speechless. The line that divides
a potential suicide bomber indoctrinated by Islamic radicalism and those who
practice moral policing in pursuit of their blind faith is quite thin.
