{"id":251234,"date":"2015-09-04T14:19:32","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T08:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tehelka.com\/?p=251234"},"modified":"2015-09-04T14:19:32","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T08:49:32","slug":"muslim-writer-from-kerala-stops-writing-column-after-hindu-forces-threatened-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/muslim-writer-from-kerala-stops-writing-column-after-hindu-forces-threatened-him\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim writer from Kerala stops writing column after Hindu forces threatened him"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\n

\"M
M M Basheer<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n 
\nIn another instance of religious intolerance, a writer in Kerala was\u00a0forced to stop his daily column on Ramayana<\/em> for being a Muslim. M M\u00a0Basheer, a noted literary critic and former professor of Malayalam at\u00a0the University of Calicut, stopped his column named \u2018Ramayanam\u00a0Jeevithasaramritham<\/em>\u2019 (Essence of Ramayana) in Malalayalam daily\u00a0Mathrubhumi<\/em> after he received as many threat and abuse calls from the\u00a0right wing groups. Basheer, who is 75, was originally entitled to write\u00a0six columns for the newspaper this August, however, stopped at five\u00a0after the threats escalated to an intolerable level. He got continuous\u00a0pestering calls mocking his identity as a Muslim writing a column based\u00a0on a Hindu script.
\nEven posters threatening Basheer was put up near the newspaper\u2019s head\u00a0office in Kozhikode the day after the column started appearing on the\u00a0daily on August 3. It is learnt from the sources that Hanumansena is\u00a0behind the act. The right wing group has been in the forefront in\u00a0unleashing attack on \u2018Kiss of Love\u2019 protest in the state few months
\nago.
\nThough Basheer was unavailable for comment, a close source with\u00a0Mathrubhumi<\/em> told Tehelka that he was deeply upset with the threat calls\u00a0and being termed a Muslim. Though he belonged to Muslim community,\u00a0Basheer sir ever in his life showed any inclination to religious groups\u00a0or organization, said the journalist.
\nHe added that Basheer sir was one among the few literary figures in the\u00a0state who is active even at this age. His column on Ramayana garnered\u00a0public attention for the way he dealt the topic in a simple, easy\u00a0language. A reader of the column said that she he felt proud for Basheer\u00a0sir taking efforts in researching and studying Ramayana deeply.
\nBasheer did not attend the phone even after Tehelka made repeated\u00a0efforts soon after the issue was out on Friday morning. The Indian\u00a0Express carried a detailed report referring to him as saying that he\u00a0stopped the column after he received continuous threat calls from the\u00a0unnamed persons. He in that interview says, bit emotionally, that at
\nthis age he cannot withstand this level of a criticism and stopped\u00a0writing. He also added that no persons were willing to hear his version\u00a0or explanation regarding the column.
\n\u201cTo the few who showed patience, I explained that the previous year I\u00a0had written on Adhyatma Ramayana (the popular foundational text of\u00a0Malayalam by Thunchathu Ezhuthachhan) and I spoke about Rama the God\u2026
\nBut few among the callers knew the difference between the two texts and\u00a0very few cared. Most callers kept insisting that I tried to attribute\u00a0human qualities to Rama because I was a Muslim,\u201d said Basheer in the\u00a0Indian Express.
\nMeanwhile, writer Suneeta Balakrishnan told Tehelka that the news could\u00a0be seen as a concerted effort of certain vested interests to instill\u00a0fear among the people. A man of his scholarly calibre, Basheer sir has\u00a0only interpreted a classical literature through his column and did\u00a0nothing offensive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Noted Malayalam literary critic, M M Basheer stopped writing a daily column on Ramayana after he received, as many hate calls from unnamed people belonging to Hindutva outfit <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":251237,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,39],"tags":[6358,466,6484,6485,6461,1353,6486,6487],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251234"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}