It is not often that one gets the chance to praise the Central Government. This is one of the rare times, and the reason is their conduct on the [tag]Tasleema Nasreen[/tag] issue. This is the Government position :

“The right to grant permission to stay in India is a Central government prerogative that has been given by UPA government to Taslima. Once granted, the person has the right to reside anywhere in India,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

Noting that the West Bengal government had no jurisdiction to force anyone to change their place of stay from West Bengal to anywhere else, Singhvi said Rajasthan government had no jurisdiction to force her relocation.

“Those who practise arbitrarily cannot preach to us. It is the Central government which has now given Taslima appropriate facilities,” he added.

I think that one of the the fallouts of both Nandigram & the aftermath of the Calcutta violence, has been the blurring of lines between the terror tactics of both the Fascists & the Communists. The BJP & the CPI (M) have become mirror images of each other, and the veneer of ‘national interest’/’interest of the poor’ has been stripped away to reveal them for what they truly are, bully boys with an agenda as an excuse.

It was truly funny to see the BJP claim the moral high ground for freedom of expression in the Tasleema Nasreen case. As Amit points out in India Uncut

“Does this mean you no longer have a problem with MF Hussain?”

The Congress is coming out of the cesspool that has been the last six months of Politics, smelling of roses!