• A letter critiquing the BJP’s espousal of freedom of expression in the Taslima Nasreen case caught our eye this week. Vadodara-based Rohit Prajapati reminds us that the Sangh Parivar in Gujarat had not displayed such libertarian colours when it came to the film, Parzania, or to the students of the Baroda University of Fine Arts (‘BJP’s soft core’). The writer also touches on the hypocrisy of the West Bengal government over Nasreen. • The BJP for the first time in a long while has agreed on the concept of ‘right to dissent’. Its defence of Taslima Nasreen has been strident. However, its stance is suspect, because it is so selective. It cannot fool the people of India. On the one hand, the BJP demands citizenship rights for Taslima Nasreen. On the other, it wants to keep all “Bangladeshi people staying in India” in a state of perpetual paranoia. That the ban on Parzania declared by Sangh Parivar groups had the tacit support of the Gujarat government and the party is known to everyone. In any case, how does Taslima’s case differ from that of the students of Baroda University Fine of Arts? Meanwhile, the West Bengal government is playing into the hands of hardcore Muslim fundamentalist forces. It is important to consistently fight all types of fundamentalism, and for that it is important to learn from autonomous women’s groups.Ethnic overreach • The fiery antics of Karunanidhi cease to amaze the logical reasoning of many a conformist who believes in the adage of letting matters take their own course. First, it was over Ram Setu. Then followed the poems eulogising the slain LTTE political wing chief, Tamilselvan. Now he expresses deep anguish over the treatment meted out to Tamils in Malaysia. He has demanded that the Indian government take appropriate action to end their suffering. The nation is yet to get over the blunder of sending peace-keeping forces to Sri Lanka to deal with their domestic problems. Having succumbed to the pressures of some of the southern regional parties, the ruling Congress to this day rues that intervention. What needs to be understood is that the migrants who decide to settle down in a foreign land do so of their own free will and are automatically bound by the laws of that sovereign state. Taking up their cause in a show of international solidarity could have adverse effects. The Malaysian government is right in asking the Tamil Nadu CM to mind his own business.— Pachu MenonMargaoGrowth index• Farah Baria is right in ‘Such a spoilsport’. All these dreams of India becoming a superpower are just a false build-up to fool the country. Unless there is social progress, contentment, equality, justice, access to basic survival needs and amenities like water, sanitation, health care, education, electricity and so on, how can we even assume that we are developing, let alone turning, into a superpower. Even Amartya Sen, the Nobel laureate states that a person’s well-being depends on many non-income influences, such as disability, propensity towards and exposure to diseases, and the absence of schools. And Farah has clearly exposed how India scores when it comes to all these real indices of growth. This is the reason why UNDP’s HDR (report) will continue to provide a much needed reality check for us. — Safiya SameenaVijayawada
