Dangerous Trend

COMMUNICATION

Amitava Mukherjee in his “West Bengal Notebook” (Mainstream, February 25, 2012) has gone overboard in showering unnecessary praise on Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal CM, when she should have been roundly criticised for being instrumental in not allowing the formal release of Taslima Nasreen’s latest Bengali book, Nirbasan (Exile), at the Kolkata Book Fair. By doing so she has showed, beyond doubt, that she would capitulate before Muslim fanatics in order to maintain her large share of minority votes. By doing so she has weakened the hands of progressive Muslims weging relentless struggle against the orthodoxy that has held sway over the community for long.

What is most objectionable is his intemperate attacks on those whom he describes as “human rights wallas” and such a revered personality as Mahasweta Devi who had stood by Mamata and boldly defended her against the abusive assaults on the TMC supremo by the CPM leaders of the State. Why should one get blacklisted if one criticises the functioning and utterances of the head of the present State Government? Then what kind of paribartan (change) is being ushered in?

Amitava Mukherjee should have understood that by approving Mamata’s move against Taslima he is also reinforcing Mamata’s intolerance to criticism that has been on display quite frequently in the recent past. That is a reflection of her immaturity and at the same time a highly dangerous trend from the democratic standpoint. This needs to be reversed at the earliest in the interest of democracy, Mamata herself and the paribartan (change) she had promised to bring about in West Bengal.

Mohammad Shahabuddin

Kolkata