At least three ‘liberal’ panellists had withdrawn from Jaipur Literature Festival in New York earlier this week because BJP leader Shazia Ilmi was invited as a panellist. Despite the protests by Islamists masquerading as left-liberals, Shazia Ilmi participated in the scheduled program on September 14, and also delivered a speech at the conclusion of the three-day event.
While those who had withdrawn from the event were Americans, including authors Marie Brenner and Amy Waldman, the campaign against the BJP leader was led by British-American author Aatish Taseer, who is son of Indian journalist Tavleen Singh and Pakistani politician Salman Taseer. While Aatish Taheer always has been an Islamist, his hatred for the Modi government skyrocketed after the central govt cancelled his OIC card as his father was a Pakistani.
While Shazia Ilmi’s scheduled event titled Intersections: Searching Equity with Dalit activist Guru Prakash Paswan Prashant Jha on September 14 went smoothly, she was heckled later while delivering an address in the evening. She had to face anti-India protests where leftist activists were chanting slogans and holding placards with anti-India messages.
Sharing a video from the event, Shazia Ilmi said, “the chorus of the protesters grew louder as they flashed placards against India! And against this very telling backdrop of hate, I spoke of the necessity to bury hatred within and without.” Standing her ground strongly, she added, “I will not allow ‘borrowed hate and mortgaged rage’ to come between my truth and theirs”.
the chorus of the protesters grew louder as they flashed placards against India! And against this very telling backdrop of hate, I spoke of the necessity to bury hatred within and without. I will not allow ‘borrowed hate and mortgaged rage’ to come between my truth and theirs ! pic.twitter.com/HvFJxPWnZj
— Shazia Ilmi (@shaziailmi) September 15, 2022
She also informed that the organisers of the festival stood up to the bullying by anti-India journalists from New York Times who had pulled out from the festival due to her presence. Calling Aatish Taseer the Instigator-in-chief, she said that his whining along with vitriol from Suketu Mehta and Kiran Desai “did nothing to dampen the swag!”
Shazia added, “Freedom of Speech is not a one way street, fellows!”
Days before Shazia was scheduled to participate in the festival, Aatish Taseer had launched a campaign against her, trying to get her cancelled from the event. He had accused the organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival in New York of duping people into believing that they were attending a festival with “respectable, intellectual people with bodies of work behind them”.
He had tweeted on September 13, “wrong to impose a hateful ideology like Hindutva by stealth on unsuspecting members of the New York intelligentsia.”
Wrong to impose a hateful ideology like Hindutva by stealth on unsuspecting members of the New York intelligentsia. I’ve had any numbers of calls from ppl appalled by the unsavoury company @JLFLitfest has brought them into. If you want to make fascism palatable, let people know. https://t.co/tuHNLBbnKA
— Aatish Taseer (@AatishTaseer) September 13, 2022
Acknowledging that he was leading the anti-Shazia protests in New York, Aatish had said that he had mobilised South Asian activists and writers to explain to other participants that “these are full-on right-wing ideologues, including card-holding members of the BJP”.
He said, “These people who are appearing from the New York side who are liberals would never be caught dead with these [BJP] people. So it’s a really, really insidious and sly thing that the JLF leaders have done.”
The values of the fascist @BJP4India are NOT New York values. Join us on 9/14 to tell @narendramodi (and his quislings) to go fuck themselves. https://t.co/8PPfr6g8tD
— Aatish Taseer (@AatishTaseer) September 14, 2022
Aatish Taseer was retweeting campaigns against Shazia at the festival, tweeting to join them on September 14th to tell “Narendra Modi (and his quislings) to go f**k themselves”.
Shazia Ilmi and Aatish Taseer also had an war of words on Twitter, where Taseer alleged that Ilmi was invited due to pressure of BJP, and she had no place in the event as she is not an author. Abusing her, he said, “You’re a shameless quisling, and a traitor to every aspect of your background. Go back to your fascist masters.”
Mr Bright spark! Stop being so smug in your silly condescension!I’ve been invited by the JLF many times before and not everyone who was invited is a writer. Our truths are not the same. You’re speaking as privileged man and I speak as a Muslim woman living in India.
— Shazia Ilmi (@shaziailmi) September 15, 2022
But Shazia shot back saying she was invited to the festival earlier also, and non-authors are regularly invited. “Our truths are not the same. You’re speaking as privileged man and I speak as a Muslim woman living in India,” she added.
