Writers are not responsible for riots. Rioters are. Rioters don’t read books: Taslima Nasreen

"Writers aren’t responsible for riots. Rioters are. Rioters don’t read books,” Taslima Nasreen told a capacity audience at the Times LitFest Delhi on Saturday. The Bangladeshi writer, who has spent much of her life in exile, battling fundamentalists in her country and ours, was part of a panel discussion on the writer as political hostage, moderated by novelist Nilanjana Roy.
Roy spoke of the time a piece by Nasreen on the burqa, published without the author’s permission by a Kannada newspaper, led to riots. “I believe the burqa is a symbol of oppression so I wrote against it.If some don’t like my article they can write another. They shouldn’t kill people. They shouldn’t issue fatwas,” she said. “The newspaper published my article without permission. It violated copyright but can’t be blamed for the riots.”
Roy talked of the oftused argument that writers should be aware of the effect their work have on people. Reacting, Basharat Peer, journalist and author of Curfewed Night, a memoir of the Kashmir confl ict, mentioned writers don’t have the power to overthrow governments — that’s something business conglomerates and politicians are better at. “If we are very successful, we can hold a mirror to a tiny slice of the world we inhabit,” Peer said.
“As a writer, you think you can stand strong. You think you’ll fi ght back, but somewhere deep inside you know the consequences of taking a particular route to write on Shivaji or Subhash Chandra Bose,” said acclaimed writer Kiran Nagarkar.
He said the more he read of Shivaji, the more he was convinced that he was a truly remarkable king. “I’d love to write about him; not a hagiography but a book that explores the complexity of his character. But you must have the chance to put it in front of an audience. You wouldn’t even be allowed to have the fi rst reading. I don’t think I want to show my courage or patriotism by taking on organisations as horrendously corrupt as regional parties,” Nagarkar said.
“India, because of culture and Constitution, values freedom of expression and thought. Though there are aberrations, and these shouldn’t be either ignored or belittled, I believe we shouldn’t exaggerate them either,” said Kulkarni, adding that Pakistan and Bangladesh were much worse off than us.
“Our democracy has a moderating influence, doesn’t allow extremists to take centre stage,” said Kulkarni, adding this was seen with the Bihar elections, after which there’s been a change in the government’s tone, with the PM praising former PMs including Nehru.
Kulkarni said Sangh Parivar elements had been emboldened to go against India’s democratic tradition. “If the current government tends towards them, what happened in Bihar will occur again.”
Nagarkar, though, said he didn’t share Kulkarni’s optimism, pointing to the increasing doublespeak in government, where the PM talks at international platforms of the need for unity among communities while his party seniors indulge in hate speeches back home.