The curious case(s) of Taslima Nasreen and Rizwanur Rehman - looking beyond the obvious

Just when we thought the silly season was over... we have the CPM tripping over themselves once again and indulging in their favourite pastime...."foot in the mouth" disease...its become quite an epidemic...as if subhas chakravorty's antics werent quite enough, and budhha babus gaffes about "them and us" in nandigram were causing a flutter, we had the unedible sight of biman bose getting all hot and flustered over taslima nasreen as the fallout of sheer vandalism on the streets of kolkata tuesday 21st November...its become so that almost every week we have something turbulent happening in the Bengal of the comrades.

So we had Biman bose literally telling taslima on the telly that she had overstayed her welcome in kolkata (after the lady had been ensconced in that "secular" city for over 13 years in exile)...promptly she was bundled off overnight to Jaipur without so much as a courtesy call to the Rajasthan government to inform them of her coming..It was a preposterous situation. Here was the CPM with brute majority in the state election of 2007, yet they were running scared of a lunatic fringe of fanatic hardliners who wanted Taslima out of India and therefore staged the most disgraceful road show not seen in leftist bengal for the last 30 years. even in the aftermath of Indira Gandhis assassination in 1984 when the rest of India burned, kolkata was an oasis of peace..in fact the goings on of the last eleven months in kolkata and bengal have no precedence. Instead of containing the violence and telling the maulvis and other religious leaders of a particular community where they cud get off, the CPM led State government promptly kowtowed in the most abject manner to rampant goondaism..Now Budhha babu maybe the CM, but Biman bose's word is law. There wasn’t any sound bytes from the CM to calm the situation and a very rattled administration promptly took the easy way out by shunting taslima out even to the extent of refusing to take her back at the request of the Rajasthan government.....the immediately we had so called leaders of all hue declaring Taslima was unwelcome anywhere in India...The Mili council in Jaipur another fringe unit piped up to make such a statement on the telly..abject surrender by the state was having its repercussions. elsewhere too. there were counter repercussions as well. secular common sense was affronted...what was the state government thinking. pandering to the lunatic fringe in this manner would open up a Pandora's box..the intelligentsia were up in arms...for a gud cause this once.. after all Taslima is one of their own..from far off shores Lord Meghnad Desai squarely slammed the Central government for this slight to Taslima..Taslima was a guest of India and should be protected at all costs...the Rajasthan BJP led government of Vaundhara Raje didnt allow Taslima to stay in Jaipur for more than a few hours and dispatched her post haste to Delhi, albeit to their state guest house...overnight Tslima had become a fugitive on the run in the country of her exile and everybody was quick to pass the buck.

It took the sane advice of the Prime minister to bring back sanity. the words were clear. Taslima would be provided protection at all cost and no hardliner would be allowed to dictate terms to the government. Buddha Babu, silent so far, was quick to see his cue and promptly invited the thoroughly traumatised Taslima back to kolkata. Now news has it that the saffron BJP for long on the receiving from the red comrades for their "communal" leanings are rubbing their hands in utter glee at this godsend opportunity to rub some "secular"red faces in the mud...in the process a decent lady of creative pursuit will get kicked around like a political football for some more time... .a Faustian farce...????

I think not...i think the taslima episode was deliberately allowed to drift so that it added one more nail in the coffin of a beleaguered CM - Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Singur, Nandigram, Rizwanur Rehman and now Taslima..The tragedy of Buddha Babu is that he is at cross purposes with powerful elements within his own party, where the battle lines are clearly drawn. someone is constantly plotting his downfall...the image of comrade increasingly seen as a confused lot speaking at cross purposes is a deliberately cultivated visage in order that Buddha babu comes across as an immature politician and administrator ..somebody within the CPM wants Budhha babu out..that someone who would be and would have been CM if not for Buddha Babu..who is he..??? It is for you to come to your own conclusions....

The case of Rizwanur Rehman gets more curious by the day...and of course it was media hyped...so instead of following the Todi trail to its logical conclusion (and that includes Priyanka Todi), we were treated to a daily barrage of media led effrontery at state interference by the occupants of Lal Bazaar.. Star Anando led the pack of media hounds baying for blood of senior police officials...the barrage of "garbage" spewed by Star Anando and its media house was personal and abusive as if it was an open and shut case... the Police were the culprits who led and abetted Rizwanur to suicide...in particular the then DC HQ Gyanwant Singh...overnight the media discovered all manner of creatures (read discredited politicians) crawling out of the woodwork badmouthing Gyanwant Singh. stories were planted in the media about Gyanwant being a "bogus police officer".... people were led to believe Gyanwant Singh was the actual culprit in separating the couple. The media simultaneously went to town over the Rehmans, so Rizwanur brother Rukbanur became a star overnight, preening in front of the lights and giving soundbytes like a trained politician...Rizwanurs mother Kishwar Jahan was also dragged in and paraded in front of the spotlights...but you could see the pain in the mothers eyes... you could see her discomfiture..no-one told her, shoot out that spotlight before you go blind...kolkattans were up in arms, driven by media reports of police atrocities...there were peace marches and candle light vigils..people read what they were fed by the media...all the while Rukbanur soaked it in.. all in the name of justice for his brother...The Police were mercilessly pilloried by one and all...but ask those of Rizwanurs friends, those who were in the know and they will tell you a different story...they will tell you that the police did "no wrong", that the police weren’t to blame...in fact no-one was to blame...so is there a story here that we are missing out...and worse still... the one person who held the key to this whole mystery was keeping very very quiet...Priyanka Todi the prime witness to all that happened in the Rehman household and the conversations with her father would not open up...she was severely traumatised they said...tho she also corroborated very briefly that the police did no wrong...rubbish said the sociology experts and human rights activists .. she is only mouthing what her father wants her to say. She is the prime witness in the house of the prime accused they said...so how could Priyanka speak independently. Ashok Todis proximity to the then Commissioner iof Police Prasun Mukherjee was well known... Gyanwant Singh did his bidding they implied...Even though several high ranking police officers were named as having criminally pressurised priyanka and Rizwanur it was Gyanwant Singh who was shown over and over again.. Also, it was convenient to target Gyanwant Singh...after all he was the most visible face of the Police force, plus he was an "outsider", not a bhadralok bengali...it was pre puja and the masses wanted their Ravan; to burn as a sign of Good over evil. the media gave them Gyanwant Singh on a platter and the truth was seemingly lost in the din of the media frenzied cacophony and receding drum beats of Durga puja.

So when the Telegraph (also an abp publication) "expose" was published quoting extensively from the CBI findings, i found myself nodding in agreement...and it wasn’t because the news suited my partcular line of thinking..suddenly all the pieces fell in place...why Priyanka had not opened her mouth thus far, why she had come to the defence of her family..why Rizwanur's close friends has said in private conversations that the police were not to blame...the culprits were elsewhere all the while, even unashamedly parading in front of the camera, whereas the media had conveniently led all kolkatans up the garden path in the name of investigative journalism..the police were not the real culprits.. What Ashok Todi said made sense, never mind if he was the prime accused. He was desperate to get his daughter back, he admits as much. He admits he did go to Gyanwant Singh, but on getting no succour from this upright police officer, he turned elsewhere.. thats when he received a call from "pappu" - a close "family friend" of the Rehmans, who offered to help Todi in exchange for monetary consideration...The Todis have been consistently saying that money of 11lakhs indeed did change hands...now the mists lifted vis a vis the last days of Rizwanur...we were informed thru the uncle Saeedur how Rukbanur turned on his younger brother to force Rizwanur to divorce Priyanka as the Todi's wanted...the police think that possibly Rukbanur dipped his hands in the lucre offered by the Todis...now the CBI is privy to this information too.. we were informed thru the telegraph expose just how the whole thing was orchestrated from beginning to end by "pappu" and the rehman family...but in the process of the wanton and irresponsible mudslinging by Star Anando an honest police officer and a gentleman's name was sullied...Thankfully as a result of the Telegraph expose that mud would not stick...But now, instead of letting sanity return and allowing the world to see the conclusion of the CBI - so called human rights activists are up in arms again...Gyanwant Singh has to be the fall guy they insist.. so once more its the merry go round...who is orchestrating this...i suspect Gyanwant Singh has many enemies within the Police force, who are inimical to him, because of the recognition he has got for his work from none other than the CM, Budhha babu, for whom Singh remains a favorite police officer for his impeccable honesty and good work hitherto. so they wont let Singh rest in peace...

Ironical that an Honest Police Officer and an equally honest Chief Minister, who wishes to do well for his state and its peoples overall development, both clean and decent human beings, should find themselves on the receiving end from their own.. the enemy for both is within not unlike the trojan horse..it tells you volumes about the social fabric of modern day society, the unholy role played by an unscrupulous media and the times we live in..

An update..8th December

Very early in the piece, some weeks after the news of Rizwanur Rehmans tragic death i had remarked to my friends on orkut that part II of the rizwanur saga would be the character assasination of his widow, the young priyanka todi by the media hounds..

Lo and behold..saturday 8th december our favorite “dirt digger” channel star anando went to town over priyanka’s reported interview to the telegraph..terming the breaking of her silence as “ulat puraan”. so our favorite chanel with your favorite anchor suman de were at their pratonisingly sniggering, smirking best, trying to decipher what and why priyanka had said what she had said…and they had lined up an impressive cast.. a former CP of kolkata police, an actress, a human rights activist, a lawyer and of course the star of their show, the preening rukbanur rehman, who has assumed a larger than life image and sundry members of his family.

You must understand that the Rehman family has gone thru ” a lot” in these past few months. months of alleged abuse and intense pressure from the occupiers of lal bazaar, the todis and friends and so called “well wishers”… ordinarily in this kind of a situation of murder/suicide ? the immediately affected family is too shaken and nonplussed by the succeeding turn of events…the unending media spotlight, which can unnerve anyone… after all the rehmans are a typical middle class family living in a congested area of kolkatta struggling to cope with the humdrum of ordinary life..therefore the unfolding events of the last few months were more than overwhelming in ordinary corcumstances, specially for an elder brother of the victim, whose demanour would of necessity be sombre, reserved and a little unsure of just what to believe and whom to believe..just a lil tentative… not so rukbanur rehman

The more i see rukbanur on the telly the more it strikes me how very “smooth” he is…in fact too “smooth”…supremely self assured and camera ready, he seems very well equipped to articulate his replies to any question put to him.. well rehearsed and quick with his answers..there’s nothing wrong in being articulate.. trouble is that rukbanur’s answers are too pat and too quick, without any measured pause for a considering a point of view.. and the smug smiling visage of rukbanur rehman beaming at us (coutesy star anando) does not fit in at all with the normal image of an grieving elder brother and family. it almost seems as if someone is coaching them on what to say…or better still they are the prime actors in a pre planned staged drama on national television. yesterday when star anando was taking soundbytes from riz’s mother kishwar jahan, you could see very clearly one of the uncles prompting her in each reply…this whole case has the smell of being orchestrated by extraneous forces, the media of course being the prime suspects… earlier we were told by rukbanur that he didnt “know” pappu, but yesterday he admits on the telly to pappu’s “unwanted” and “prolonged” interference. remember priyanka says pappu is like a god father to the rehmans. Another fact “admitted” by rukbanur in front of the cameras, was his complete unwillingness to swear by his uncles and deny that they were in receipt of lucre from the todis…hang on folks… there will be many more flip flops before this story ends…

There was an interesting moment on the show when Star Anando’s pin up anchor boy suman de tried to harange Bharati mutshudi, an eminent kolkata human rights lawyer who was on the star anando panel that evening, over the dichotomy of priyanka’s two communications, prior and post rizwan’s murder/suicide.. inspite of Ms. Mutshudi pointing out that priyanka todi’s two statements were made under vastly different circumstances, suman de would have none of it. star anando had got their “bunny” atwixt the headlights and werent about to let go..for her pains Ms. Mutshudi was banished from the show after just two questions ..obviously her views weren’t comfortable enough for star anando and its anchor..the sniggering and depreciative comments went on..rukbanur had a smug resigned smile on his face…listening to him an ordinary viewer who didnt know the context, couldnt be faulted for thinking that Rukbanur was a seasoned politician , not a grieving elder brother…

And now to Sujato Bhadro…i have a deep and abiding suspicion about human rights activists…specially those who have a fetish for appearing on the telly for just any cause…

But Sujato Bhadro is not amongst these hangers on, so my friends assure me…he is a decent sort who wouldnt like to be seen backing the wrong guy… so id like to ask him just what he is doing in rukbanurs corner…he was a late entrant in this case..agreeing to legally help rizwanur on the 19th september. two days before Riz died…all the facts in his possession are what rizwanur supplied him…who in turn was being tutored by rukbanur and pappu as priyanka would have us believe..but to accuse Priyanka of abetment to suicide just because she didnt contact her husband in the seven days of her forced separation, is ungentle manly and hitting below the belt..in that one action Sujato Bhadro tore up his calling card as an impartial and “real” human rights proponent… As for Rukbanur…im not sure who is manipulating whom.. whether its Rukbanur manipulating star anando or vice versa…but all in all both are doing a damn good job in keeping the public fooled…. star already has a reputation for sensationalism…it adds the cherry to the cake thats called TRP… But in order that civil common sense should prevail and kolkattans learn a semblance of truth we should wait for the CBI findings…

In search of the truth - A commoner's view

Im not by any stretch of imagination a CPM Party man...i dont vote for that blessed party... in fact i think its one of the most regressive and dogmatic political entities...i also think that Somnath Chatterjee is a national disgrace as speaker of the lok sabha...but i value the truth and much as i abhor the policies of the CPM, i will stand up for truth and justice every time...
So when Budhhadeb babu asked the press whether the goons of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirod Committee were supposedly peaceful when they harassed and chased away those villagers of Nandigram who were CPM supporters and maintained this status quo for 11 months, not allowing the administration entry into nandigram - i found myself nodding in agreement. you simply cannot have the cake and eat it too... for that is exactly the way the "arrogant" regional media want it. on the one hand we blame the state for the police firings of 14march (perhaps rightly so) and on the other hand when the state does not involve the police in the return of these displaced villagers on 14th november (probably from fear of a political backlash) the so called intelligentsia of bengal are up in arms...I have never heard anywhere in the annals of peoples movement that a simple return to occupy what was theirs to be coined as "recapture" (strange usage of the word)...recapture of what.???? displaced people reclaiming and reoccupying their homes ????
As for the goons of the Trinamul backed BUPC, lets not close our eyes and pretend their ranks were not infiltrated by the maoists. (who else would teach the villagers to dig up roads and build trenches for guerrilla warfare. who else would teach them the drill of using guns. CNN IBN and ND TV has live video evidence of this) I find it incredulous that even after seeing visual footage we have people like dramatist manish mitra go up on DD Bangla yesterday and question the veracity of none other than the home minister of the country, Shivraj Patil who made a statement in the lok sabha to this effect... Perhaps Star Anando anchor suman dey thinks its "cute" to openly ridicule the CM of west bengal and ask for evidence of maoist presence in nandigram... i wonder at the editorial restraint of the TV Channel. People like suman de and manish mitra are typical of a species who only see (and say) what they wish to see and disregard something which stares us in the face. suman dey can perhaps be partially forgiven for he is perhaps following the channel political line.
For what is staring us in the face should disturb us greatly as a civil society and as a nation. Right from the early seventies and the rise of naxalism in bengal, it was considered a fringe movement and no one thought it possible that it could ever be successful in involving the masses in a violent armed uprising. The naxal movement was forcibly suppressed and the comrades came to power in bengal, but extreme leftist ideology never really died down. it started again in turbulent districs of Andhra Pradesh in the early ninetes and today maoists cut a swathe in 150 districts from Maharashta, AP, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and bihar. today they represent the biggest internal threat ever and the central government is aware of this. But Nandigram represents a watershed which history will judge many years down the line. Nandigram serves as the crucible of an experiment fundamental to the extreme left cause... that of participation of the masses in an armed uprising. the incidence of nandigram and the events leading upto november 14th served the purposes of the maoists exactly...a small but significant step was taken in nandigram by the maoists...an experiment was proved to be successful...above party bickering THIS is what should be bothering us...for the violence happened even after the government backed down from the SEZ development plan...the maoists succeeded in their plan while civil society was busy apportioning blame on the state...how many times have we seen in punjab and kashmir that insurgency succeeds when they have they support of the local populace...but we indians have learnt nothing and we observe nothing because we are obsessed in only seeing the small picture....
And it has become fashionable for civil society to blame the state...where were the famed intelligentsia of bengal when poor people were driven from their homes for 11months...what was their language of protest..why was their silence so deafening...why is it that their eloquence found voice only after the incidence of november 14th...why werent there cries of "Dhikaar" of the aparna sens and ghoses (Gautam, Rituporno and shankho) prior to november 2007. what are we as a society tryng to say...that state repression is real repression and all other manifestation of repression is romantic and cute...is it cute when family ties have been torn asunder like it has been in nandigram.. NDTV's monideepa bannerjee's report on nandigram precisely on this issue is an eyeopener...the mother was chased away by the son Gaurango who is a BUPC supporter (forcedly so as earlier he too was a CPM man)and lived in a camp for 11months...her crime...she was a CPM supporter. today she has returned to nandigram but doesent live with her son...the mistrust between mother and son is palpable and deep. who is responsible for this... It is time that we as a society read the signs emanating out of nandigram and take corrective action...or has apathy so overtaken us that we have become blasé to tragedy... if we fail to read the larger picture now then we as a nation , both state and society must squarely be held responsible for events that will eventually overcome us.
And what of the role of the intelligentsia in bengal..is it only to march in protest and abuse the so called state repression..or is it to provide that quality of leadership that is clearly lacking from the political class..when the need of the hour was crying out for some common sense and calm to prevail in the troubled environment brought about by irresponsible politicians, these so called buddhijeevis could have used their popularity to spread the message of peace sans any political alignment..i’m really troubled by the collective lack of rational thought of the creative people of art in bengal... it would seem that their desire to be seen as pin up poster boys of pseudo secularism a la that professional rabble rouser Medha Patkar overcame their rational thought. only thespian Soumitra Chatterjee had the sense to steer clear of politics and do what was right..
And it is fashionable for the media too to be anti left...we have a movement presently continuing in another part of the country where far more people have lost their lives, more blood has been shed, but does the media report this with the same fervour.. does it make frontpage news...for it is as much if not more of a war zone than nandigram.. i speak of Salwa Judum in chhatisgarh...that is also a war being fought against the maoists by the state...but the media is only concerned about Godhra and nandigram...and why is that ???? is it because these places are near urban centres...is this what is called investigative journalism.. is this the kind of crap the media houses wish to feed us with.. no wonder in the vacuum created by the lack of real news content media houses wish to inundate us with their obsession with sex as an alternative to real news.