New Delhi: Tough times force even the toughest of mortals to mellow down and compromise. Noted Bengali feminist and writer Taslima Nasreen, who, once upon a time, did not hesitate in directly taking on the fundamentalists in her country head-on seems to have changed a lot.
Taslima now seems to be more cautious before making any statement on contentious issues lest she gets in the firing line of hardened Islamic fundamentalists.
Right now, she is more worried about her resident visa in India and does not want to say anything that could give the Indian government an excuse for denying her the same. Taslima does not accept this and says that she has just evolved with time.
In an exclusive interview to India TV Digital (www.indiatvnews.com), Taslima expressed her shock over Modi government giving her only a tourist visa for the two months.
She had great expectations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi as she expected the new dispensation to offer her a better offer than the previous UPA government, like Indian citizenship but the NDA government's decision to offer her two months' tourist visa has left her shell-shocked. If Taslima is to be believed then she was on the verge of getting a heart attack because of this decision.
Despite going soft on matters relating to Islam, the firebrand writer still believes that there are inherent flaws in Islam as far as the issue of equality for women is concerned.
She specifically pointed out four major areas of concern in Islam that goes against women – marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance.
She wondered how a man can have four wives when a woman does not have this liberty. Taslima, however, added that Islam gives more rights to women compared to other religions as far as share in parental property is concerned.
Taslima came out openly in support of Palestine Muslims on the Gaza violence issue and blamed the illegal occupation of Palestinian land by Israelis for the ongoing violence.
Taslima opened up on a range of isues from the Sunni Jihadists ISIS to Gaza violence, from the need to form an “Aam Aurat Party” to inherent flaws in Islam and other religions with respect to women rights.
Here goes the full text of the exclusive interview with Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen:
