While Arundhati Roy and Aatish Taseer might be on the same page now while criticising the Modi govt, Taseer – a writer quite gifted with sardonic wit – once wrote quite disparagingly about Arundhati Roy.
An old text of Aatish Taseer's comments on Arundhati Roy shows him saying: “The jihadists, the Maoists, the Kashmir movement, the anti-development people... they are all her friends. Anyone who can prove a credible threat to the future of India is her friend.”
The comment led Abhijit Iyer-Mitra to write, “I’ve mostly liked & agreed with Aatish Taseer’s writings & thoughts ... this one in particular.”
Reacting, Taseer wrote: “I’m sorry to disappoint, Abhijit. This was written in a gentler time, almost a decade ago. I have had my differences with Arundhati Roy—and I’m sure I will again—but, in the big fight ahead, for our basic norms and liberties, Arundhati and I are on the same side.”
Recently, the Home Ministry stated that Taseer was ineligible for an OCI card because of his parentage. The MHA said in an official statement:
“Mr. Taseer was given the opportunity to submit his reply/objections regarding his PIO/OCI cards, but he failed to dispute the notice.
Thus, Mr. Aatish Ali Taseer becomes ineligible to hold an OCI card, as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. He has clearly not complied with very basic requirements and hidden information.”
Taseer had written an article calling PM Modi India’s Divider-in-Chief much to the chagrin to the ruling dispensation.
Arundhati Roy trolled for NPR remark
A day after acclaimed author Arundhati Roy made the remark that the National Population Register (NPR) would serve as a database for the National Register of Citizens (NRC), besides asking people to oppose it by giving wrong names, Twitterati on Thursday trolled her for her remark.
#arundhatiroy trended with 46K tweets while #RangaBilla had 7,482 tweets.
Arundhati had asked people to give wrong names like Ranga-Billa and 7, Race Course Road, as their residential address for NPR.
One user remarked: "When a coward tries to become brave he becomes cruel, and when a fool tries to become a scholar she becomes a leftist."
One user posted pictures of Sri Lankan bowler Lasith Malinga and Arundhati Roy and wrote: "When life gives you curly hair, be like Malinga, not Arundhati Roy."
"Folks, two minutes silence is not enough. A hearty laugh for 10 minutes, I say, for all of us who thought Arundhati Roy was inspirational at some point of time," read another tweet.
One Twitter user said: "One would have thought that this person, @payal_rohatgi, who has been victimised for exercising her right to free speech, would at least stand in defence of Arundhati Roy's right to free speech. Instead, she is calling for her arrest. That's pretty disgusting, but not surprising."
In reply, a user commented: "Both are different issues. Arundhati Roy is making a mockery of Indian Constitution & (seeking) disobedience of government laws..."
"Support for #CAA and #NRC is growing day by day. The lies of the so-called liberal intellectuals like Arundhati Roy have been exposed. India now stands united in opposing infiltrators who were imported for votes," remarked another user.
