Earlier this week, The Print – a portal founded by senior journalist Shekhar Gupta, which mysteriously dropped Barkha Dutt as co-founder for some reasons – published an article by Taslima Nasreen, a well known author and critic of Islamic fundamentalism.
The article was titled “Why are Hindus trying to prove that they can become ISIS-like extremists: Taslima Nasreen” suggesting that Taslima believes that the entire Hindu society is becoming extremist and supportive of ISIS like terror organizations and acts.
This came as a shock to many because this passion to equate Hindus with ISIS was hitherto known as a fantasy restricted only to the ‘secular-liberal’ crowd of India, which harbors Hinduphobia hiding it beneath flowery language.
In her article, Taslima indeed brings in ISIS, though she uses it in context of ghastly murder of a Muslim laborer in Rajasthan, who was accused of ‘love jihad’ and killed in by one Shambhulal Regar. The ghastly murder was recorded on video and shared on social media later. Taslima says that the murder-video and its broadcast on internet was done the way ISIS does the same.
Taslima also mentions about ‘rising intolerance’ though she doesn’t equate the entire Hindu community as wanting to become terrorists like ISIS fighters, which the headline by The Print suggested. Such a sweeping Hinduphobic argument was not expected from someone like Taslima, and she drew a lot of flak for it on social media.
Among those who criticized her was an Australian Imam, who argued how even isolated acts like that of Shambhulal can’t be equated with ISIS:
I don’t agree with @taslimanasreen that Hindus can be compared with ISIS, simply because ISIS is founded upon an ideology of hate and war, and Hinduism wasn’t founded by the sword. I have seen nothing but love and kindness from every Hindu I have come across. https://t.co/e0PLsPEEd0
— Imam Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) December 16, 2017
Your article compares the violence of some Hindus to ISIS. This is a false comparison because if a Hindu is an extremist, it is an individual matter. If ISIS are extremists, they are simply following their books. Hindus retaliate locally and don’t go around bombing other nations. https://t.co/cTTPacg4ZG
— Imam Tawhidi (@Imamofpeace) December 17, 2017
Amid all the criticism, Taslima clarified that the headline was not chosen by her and she blamed it for all the ‘hate’ and ‘abuse’ she was receiving. She said that the original article was written in Bengali and the headline was entirely different:
My original article about Shambhulal in Bengali which was translated and published by ‘The Print’ . Headline was changed by them. হত্যার ভিডিও প্রচার https://t.co/PpuMxXQxUm
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) December 16, 2017
The way I was abused & hated today for being misunderstood or for a twisted headline of an article or for being truthful & honest is really sad. But this is my life. I lost admirers? No, they’re not real admirers who hear lies & garbage & start hating without checking facts.
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) December 16, 2017
Interestingly, Taslima even shared a Twitter exchange with Shekhar Gupta where she had asked Gupta to change the headline to accurately depict her thoughts, but Gupta kept on adopting delaying tactics despite Taslima insisting on it:
@nayanikaaa pic.twitter.com/0Oz91HAMKe
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) December 17, 2017
The headline had not been changed despite repeated requests by Taslima to Gupta (till this report was published).
Perhaps Shekhar Gupta is chasing traffic for his new website with such provocative headlines – and he has been successful at least in this case – but it surely has not amused Taslima Nasreen.
This is not for the first time that Taslima Nasreen and Shekhar Gupta are part of a social media controversy. Recently, an old video clip, which had Taslima cornering Gupta over calling radical Islamic leader Owaisi his friend, had gone viral on social media:
