Is Taslima ungrateful towards India?

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What has the Indian government got in return for sheltering the outcaste Bangladeshi national Taslima Nasreen? Is her stand as a radical thinker and writer justified by her recent act of ungratefulness towards her hosts - the Indian government?

CJ: Dayanand Edappally

Fri, Mar 21, 2008 16:38:54 IST

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Indian Government on Taslima :

INDIA’S HOSPITALITY to the Bangladeshi refugee Taslima Nasreen has met with the worst ingratitude possible. The government of India accorded her top security and provided her with accommodation and medical care, all because she had the image of a hunted author in her native country.

In keeping with India’s tradition, we tried to accommodate her to the best of our ability and protected her from fanatics who would have killed her long ago. She should remember that India too has its fair share of fanatics and bigots who are not under the control of the government. That she was issued a visa and got it renewed to make her stay here legitimate should have been enough to make her grateful.

But at the first opportunity she got to leave India, she poured vitriol over her hosts and spewed venom on the Indian government. She even said she was being poisoned through drugs. When Bhagwan Rajneesh left the USA after his experimental orgiastic living, he raised the same accusation against the Orange County authorities. No one could prove or disprove his statement.

This woman has gone too far. She may be secure in her new destination, wherever that is. That is why she went so far as to equate the Indian government with religious fundamentalists. To repay it with this sort of response is surely abusing one’s hospitality.

I hope the government takes a lesson from this incident and reconsiders its stand before offering to accommodate any more foreign VIPs. Taslima apparently has lost her power of logical thinking. She blandly retracted her statement at Heathrow Airport. She may have had second thoughts over her earlier stance.

She can claim a woman’s privilege to change her mind ever so often. She can say the most offensive things in one go and then deny them the next hour. Is it in keeping with her image as a radical thinker and writer? Or has she gone nuts? One fails to understand the working of her mind.

After her hospital treatment, let her go back to her country and face the music there. She doesn’t deserve any leniency from India. She has offended the Indian people. She has thrown dirt on the fair image of this great country, which has the noble tradition of treating its guests as gods.

When Brutus stabbed Caesar, the great emperor was shell-shocked. Ingratitude, more than Brutus’s sword, vanquished Caesar. For, Brutus was like Caesar’s angel. When the stab was from that angel, there was nothing more to do but to succumb.

Gratitude is an attitude of the heart. It needs to be cultivated. It needs culture. Self-seekers cannot express or experience gratitude. This woman is selfish to the core. Her veneer of culture is just a mask. Now she has exposed her true nature. Leave her alone.

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