I just sent the following letter to The Hindu. I urge all like minded people
to do so by modifying the letter suitably and send to:
thehindu@vsnl.comThanks.
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Sir,
This is in response to West Bengal state assembly speaker Mr. Halim's comments regarding the recent Ms. Taslima Nasreen controversy ('Halim: Taslima can't hurt others sentiments',
The Hindu, December 22, 2007). The communists are at the best of their hypocricy now to keep their vote-bank politics going by pandering to the minority fundamentalism. If Mr. Halim is so sensitive about the sentiments of others then why didn't he criticise M. F. Hussain's paintings of Hindu Goddesses? If Mr. Halim, hailing from an avowed atheist party, is so
sympathetic toward others' sentiments, then would he stand up and defend the Hindu organisations who feel offended by the Christian evangelists' attempts to converts poor hindus under financial allurements and inducements? One can recall the near hysterical reactions of our 'secular' CPM public figures just a few years ago when Bajrang Dal and VHP protested
against the shooting of the movie 'The Water' in Varanasi depicting the sorry state of condition of some Hindu widows. These 'secular' characters were out on the street at that time to defend the film director's freedom of expression and creativity. How come Mr. Halim is now suffering from that selective amnesia?
Yours truly,
Partha Roy
Jadavpur, Kolkata 32
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