Mangalore: Poojary Demands Withdrawal of Asylum Granted to Taslima Nasreen
Pic: Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)
Mangalore, Mar 2: “As the religious sentiments of Indians have been hurt, the Indian government should not give shelter to Taslima Nasreen, the controversial writer of Bangladesh origin”, said former union minister B Janardhan Poojary, on Tuesday March 2.
Speaking at a press meet held at Press Club, Poojary said, “The people’s reaction in Shimoga and Hassan shows that they are hurt by the writings of Taslima Nasreen and allowing her to be in India will adversely affect peace in the country as her opinions on religion are not welcomed by the majority of her community. So, the union government should not allow her to be in India and it does not matter where she chooses to live outside India”.
Answering to a query by a journalist as to what the difference between Shiv Sena and himself is, he replied that there were many differences between the two.
“My demand is to maintain peace and Shiv Sena has shown protest against Sachin Tendulkar for his statement and Shah Rukh Khan also, but I am not. If I were home minister of the country, I would have given the Bharat Ratna to Sachin Tendulkar”, added Poojary.
“Ignorance of the law is not an excuse”, said Poojary adding that Taslima should know that every person has his own right to enjoy the freedom of religion and hurting it is disrespect of the law. She can use her freedom of expression but she has no right to give judgments on religious matters”, he said.
Shame on State Government:
“The violence, following Taslima’s translated article which appeared in a newspaper, is a shame to the state government, which is inactive in maintaining peace in the state. It considers any major incident as minor”, said Poojary adding that chief minister and home minister of the state are directly responsible for the incidents in Shimoga and Hassan.
“The state government has no power to take action against the mining lobby in the state, even after it was reported by the Lokayukta and also after the Supreme Court ordered the stopping of illegal mining. This is because the chief minister is relying on the mining lobby to stay in power”, he accused.
“The security for the minority community in the state is a nightmare”, said Poojary stating that people of the state are fed up of the government and have lost all faith.
Congress leaders Harikrishna Bantwal, Suresh Ballal, and Sanjeev Moily were also present.