Now, generally, the Sangh Parivar is not welcoming of Bangladeshis. In fact, they believe they should not be recognised as life forms but herded together and sent home. However, given its largeness of heart and vision, it is prepared to allow one Bangladeshi, Taslima Nasreen, not just right of residence but full citizenship, with hospitality thrown in, courtesy Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Fortunately, Taslima is not a student at the Baroda University of Fine Arts, or Modi may have had to send in this police to beat her up and jail her for expressing her right to express herself.

Mullah Freedom: This may seem something of a misnomer but that is because you don't understand what real freedom of expression is all about. Real freedom is letting anyone issue a fatwa against one and every thing. Mullahs are big on gender. They passionately believe that every woman should freely express her freedom of expression. But she should do this but within the chardiwari , or four walls of the home. Arrey, it's a whole universe out there, so why should they complain? Who is there to stop a woman from expressing herself by making a really good mutton biryani or shammi kebab? Now mullahs don't have much of a view on M.F. Husain, at least not when we last checked.

West Bengal Freedom (sponsored by the state government): I dare anybody to deny that the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government is not committed to culture. Fine films that testify every day to freedom of expression are regularly screened at Nandan — with the chief minister himself often in attendance, sparing time from onerous labours at Writers Building, like directing cadre action in Nandigram. However, the state government sometimes feels the need to go the extra mile to protect freedom of expression. It does this by occasionally banning Taslima Nasreen’s books or sending its police to protect her freedom by pushing her into a taxi and handing her a ticket to Timbuktoo. In an eloquent token of their commitment to freedom of expression, the state government even paid for Taslima’s transportation, without demanding TA/DA forms to be filled.

... contd.