Taslima backs UCC, targets madrasas
Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen made a strong pitch for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and discontinuation of the madrasa education system. Speaking to the media on Sunday said that she had been fighting for the cause of UCC for the past four decades. “I think all civilized countries should have a uniform civil code,” she said. Nasreen’s statement comes in the backdrop of the West Bengal Government’s initiation of a process to implement UCC in the State. A draft UCC Bill is presently under consideration by an expert committee led by former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai.
Referring to how things were back in her own country, which she had not visited for the past more than 40 years, she said, “Hindu women do not enjoy equal rights with men … and they cannot inherit their parents’ … cannot even divorce their husbands on their own.” Nasreen was felicitated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday. Speaking on madarsa education and their impact on Bangladesh politics, she said, “Madrasas should be discontinued as many of them are a breeding ground for fundamentalist ideas.
Madrasas should be converted to secular schools with modern thoughts.” She also alleged that madarsa-manufactured fundamentalists played a major role in the ouster of Awami League Government in that country.
Madrasas were a threat to secular, democratic ideas and freedom of speech and expression in South Asia, she said. “Considering the present situation, there is hardly any scope of a secular democratic fabric returning in Bangladesh because Awami League is banned, the Opposition space is occupied by hardline Jamaat i Islami —- which wants to implement sharia laws,” she said
“Today, standing in 21st century if you try to implement 7th-century laws how can a modern country flourish? So, there is hardly any scope for Bangladesh to move forward in the present circumstances,” she added.
On former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and banning of her party, she said, “The way she had to leave the country is not acceptable. Awami League should not have been banned.”
