In a recent interview vis-a-vis Devil’s Advocate Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN, Taslima Nasrin really disappointed me. I never knew the fiery author could be so shallow. She looked stupid at times and made me wonder - does this woman know what she says?
Karan Thapar made Taslima accept at the beginning that it’s not just Islam but all religions that are bad. At one point, Karan Thapar accused her of violating peoples’ privacy by writing about her sexual relations with them and all Taslima Nasrin could come up with was meaningless answers. Taslima said she had to say ‘everything’ in her autobiography. But what about their privacy? Her explanation: “They didn’t tell me that they need privacy”.
Karan Thapar: You see its not just people’s privacy that you have invaded you have also compromised third party. For instance in one of your autobiographies you reveal that Syed Shamsul Haq told you that he was having a relationship with his sister-in-law. That poor woman perhaps didn’t want the world to know but you trumpetted it all over by revealing it.
Taslima Nasrin: You know, I only mentioned the things what was important to me.
Karan Thapar: Why was this important to you?
Taslima Nasrin: Because first time I heard that one big man whom I considered my idol or who was a big writer whom I respected very much and he was saying that he was having sex with that woman or this woman, he wanted to do that thing or this thing, that I actually couldn’t imagine.
Karan Thapar: Quite right. You wanted to teach him a lesson or you wanted to pay him back in his own coin but as a result you have compromised the poor sister-in-law. She may have wanted privacy, she may have wanted secrecy she may not have wanted the world to know that she was having a relationship with her brother-in-law you have done that for her.
Taslima Nasrin: I have no intentions to embarrass her.
Karan Thapar: But you have done it.
Taslima Nasrin: No I did my things. I was writing my autobiography so I have to tell everything that I knew was truth and I had to tell the truth.
Read the full interview on CNN-IBN.
I agree with Taslima Nasrin on some grounds and disagree on some. Personally, I give a damn to religions and don’t care if someone is finding fault with religion(s). She talks about women’s rights which is fine. She has written about the oppression on Hindus in Bangladesh, which is very true I know. But at present she is only running after publicity. Finding faults with Islam is one thing. But was the need to defame the Prophet Muhammad? Surely, it was to attract attention. And it was logical as long as she was presenting her views on woman’s rights, human rights and giving us a picture of the Bangladesh society through her writing but could she not have spared us of her sexual escapades in the name of autobiography! In fact, her later books have little literary value but enough cheap titillation.
