Taslima Nasrin

Taslima Nasrin sent me this email from India some time back today. She also sent me her phone number, and I spoke to her from America. She gave me permission to publish our emails. I told her she is a brave person who spoke out against atrocities on Hindus in Bangladesh in her novel ' Lajja ', just as I speak out against atrocities on Muslims in India

Dear Katjuji,
I am so happy to learn that you would accept my invitation for Bengali Dinner. I hope you eat fish.. I am looking forward to meeting you.
What you have said about Tagore is true. I am a socially committed writer but Tagore's songs touch my heart.  It is almost impossible for Bengalis not to love Tagore's songs about love and despair.
With warm regards
Taslima

This is the reply I sent :

Taslimaji,
 How absolutely wonderful to hear from you. You may not be knowing this, but I have been your admirer ever since you bravely wrote ' Lajja ' in 1993, which I read in its Hindi translation a long time back, when I was a High Court Judge in Allahabad, my home town.
 What we have in common is opposition to oppression on anyone. Just as you spoke out against oppression against the Hindu minority in Bangladesh, I have been consistently speaking out against oppression of Muslims,Christians and other minorities in India. In my opinion everyone should be free to practice his/her religion, and live with dignity and honour.
 In India, Muslims are often oppressed. They are often falsely roped in whenever a bomb blast or other such incident takes place, and they sometimes are kept in jail for 10 years or so after which the Court finds them innocent. Who will restore them so many years of their life ? They often find it difficult to get jobs or houses on rent, etc The media often paints Muslims as terrorists, when the truth is that 99% people of all communities are good, as stated by the great French philosopher Rousseau, whose humble disciple I am.
  You have been hounded by bigoted idiots, not only in Bangladesh but even in India, but you have never surrendered your principles. Hats off to you ! In future if anybody tries to harrass you please let me know. I know how to deal with such rascals and bigoted idiots.
 Now as regards literature. Please read my article ' The Role of Art and Literature ' on my blog justicekatju.blogspot.in ( also called 'Satyam Bruyat' ). I have mentioned therein that broadly there are two theories of art and literature, one is called ' Art for art's sake', while the other is called ' Art for social purpose'. In my opinion in a poor country like india ( and Bangladesh ) art should be for social purpose. Art for art's sake is only escapism in poor countries.
 Tagore broadly belonged to the school of art for art's sake, while Sharat Chandra and Kazi Nazrul Islam belonged to the school of art for social purpose. Sharad Chandra was taking literature towards a revolutionary direction ( see his 'Pather Dabi', which was banned by the British, and the price of one copy of which at one time was said to be the same as that of a Mauser pistol ). So the British promoted Tagore through Yeats, and he largely diverted literature from that revolutionary direction towards spiritualism and mysticism, which is nonsensical escapism in a poor country like India. As a result literature suffered a lot in India. Hindi 'chayavadi' poets, influenced by Tagore, started writing similar nonsense.
  As regards Bankim Chandra, he had great potential, but he became communal, calling Muslims 'yavans'. His ' Anand Math' divided society on commual lines, because Muslims could obviously not accept the concept of a Hindu religious organization.
 In my article ' What is India ' ( see my blog and the website kgfindia.com ) i have explained that India ( in which I include Pakistan and Bangladesh ) is broadly a country of immigrants, like North America. About 95% people living in the Indian sub continent today are descended from immigrants who came from outside. This explains the tremendous diversity in india---so many religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, etc. So the only way to keep united and prosper is secularism and giving equal respect to all communities and sects
 If you permit, I would like to post this email on my facebook page, as many people would be interested in our discussion about art and literature. But I will only do so if you permit
 Regards
 Justice Markandey Katju
 P.S.
 My nickname is Montu ( changed to Mantu, as 'o' in Bangla is 'a' in Hindi ). It was given to me in Calcutta, where my grandfather was Governor of West Bengal.
 So you may call me Montuda, if you so wish ( as i am elder to you, having been born in 1946 )
 And yes, i love fish