Unchecked fundamentalism led to Bangladesh crisis, says author Taslima Nasreen

T'puram: Author Taslima Nasreen said that Bangladesh is in the situation it currently is because the govts there did not act against the religious fundamentalists who issues a fatwa against her and also did not act when bloggers were getting killed. Speaking at Kerala Legislature International Book Festival on Friday, Nasrin said that the govts used religion to stay in power and built religious schools when there was no need for madrassas so that they got the support of the fanatics. "Instead of making people civilized, they made people religious and fanatics. Now, the fundamentalists are in power. I do not know how to get back this secular country. In 1971, the Hindus, Bengalis and Muslims together fought for a secular constitution. Now, they are killing minorities. This must be stopped," she said. Nasrin also said that the Nobel Peace Prize does not define peace, but power defines it. "Henry Kissinger got the award though his policies erased villages, and Aung San Suu Kyi chose power when Rohingyas were driven out or killed. In Bangladesh, Mohammed Yunus, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, was praised globally. But he aligned with religious extremists and prioritized an agenda that threatens secularism and progress," she said. Responding to a question, Nasrin said that there should be a uniform civil code, as religious laws always discriminated against women and did not stand for equality. "All personal law should be based on equality and justice. In India, there was a Hindu Act in 1956. Before that, Hindu men could marry more than one woman, and women did not get property. It is the same in Bangladesh now," she said. Nasrin added said that women, Muslim or otherwise, suffer if there is religious law. "We want civilized law based on equality and justice," she said. "One of the gravest threats to peace is religious fundamentalism; not spirituality, but barbarity disguised as holiness. Across cultures and countries, we see belief weaponized against women, against minorities, against freethinkers. We see scriptures used to justify violence. We see reason branded as hearsay, curiosity as sin, and dissent as blasphemy. This is not peace. This is terror in sacred clothing. Religious extremism demands obedience, not morality. It values conformity over conscience, it prefers fear to freedom. And when religion becomes hostile to reason, it becomes hostile to humanity itself," she added. Lauding Kerala, Nasrin said that the progress was not accidental but was a choice. "There are also quieter acts of defiance, less visible but no less powerful. Thinkers like Chattampi Swamikal and Sahodaran Ayyappan insisted on reason over superstition, inquiry over blind belief, and humanity over dogma. And then there are writers like Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, who gave dignity to ordinary lives, and Thakazhi, who wrote the social conscience of this land," she said. The author added, "Kerala is not just a place on the map but is an idea, an idea of progress, an idea of equality, and an idea of humanity. This land has long believed that a thinking society is a free society and that books are not luxuries but necessities."