ARTISTIC FREEDOM @ What COST

Once again the article published by Tasnima had raised questions about the artistic freedoms. In a democratic country our constitution gives right to express ones opinion freely . But people forget that with every right comes a duty. No one cares for duty . Tasnima have right not to believe in islam , she had right not to believe in Kuran or interpret the Kuran in other way . But she had no right to hurt the religious sentiments of people. The article titled "bhurqa " had already created a lot of havoc in the past . I seriously believes it was not appropriate for government to allow her to live in India. The basic pillar of this largest democracy is religion tolerance.

Being a liberal country artists had freedom of expression . The fact remains that India people are very sensitive to religion .........the extremist groups or fundamentalists are stronger in India.

The article written by Tasnima was not so outrageous that people should come out and destroy the public property. Fundamentalists supported and encouraged by certain political parties took full advantage of the situation and created a havoc for three days. The loss to life and property for an article cannot be justified in any way. Today we are in the 21st century and we need to change our mindset . We see in the west there are rarely such outrageous response to movies like The vinci code ///// where the movie maker had questioned the very foundation and the principles of the church. The movie was released in US without any major setback , but in India government delayed the release in name of communal harmony.

I believe that in democracy like us the right to freedom of speech must be bounded with obligations to the society.