“…maybe one day with the flag of democracy wrapped around me, in my dearest India, someone will put me in a grave, a Government officer, he will be, I guess…’’
— Taslima Nasreen
Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who had uttered these words in 2008 from an undisclosed location in Delhi, is visiting India this year. Recently, Taslima has expressed her desire from the United States, (she is there to complete a year-long fellowship in human rights at New York University) to settle down in Kolkata. “I don’t want to settle in the West. I’m waiting to see if the West Bengal authorities would allow me to return to Kolkata,” she told reporters.
She is visiting India on January 16 to renew her visa that expires on February 17. Also, she will be visiting Kolkata on the Republic Day to collect an award given to her by the ‘Bhanusinha Samman’ Committee. Taslima has been nominated for her immense contribution to art and literature. Besides, she will also attend the launch of the sixth instalment of her most-awaited autobiographical novel, ‘Nei, Kicchu Nei’, (No Entity) at the Kolkata Book Fair.
In 2008, circumstances forced her to cancel the publication of this book and, under tremendous pressure from some quarters, she was forced to delete some parts from her controversial book “Dwikhondito”. The content had triggered riots in a few areas of Kolkata. On August 17, 2007, dozens of clerics from prominent mosques in Kolkata issued a “death warrant” against Taslima for her “repeated criticism” of Islam.
Urging her to leave the country, they declared that they would offer money to anybody who would kill her. An unknown radical body, the All India Minority Forum, organised violent protests in Kolkata on November 21. And with fear of violence spreading to other parts of the state, the Left Front government forcefully shifted Taslima from Kolkata to Jaipur and then to New Delhi. This came just a week after she was attacked in Hyderabad during the launch of the Telugu translation of one of her novels. Some legislators from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen had led the attack. Since then, a lot has changed. Now, Taslima’s friends are mounting pressure on the West Bengal government to allow her to stay in Kolkata. They have appealed to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and other senior politicians to provide her security if she returns to the city. Shyamali Banerjee, director of the India International Women’s Film Festival, and its chairperson Anita Roy Chowdhury have written to the chief minister regarding Taslima’s visit. They want the government to let her settle down in West Bengal.
But the question is will the embattled state government antagonise the Muslim voters by allowing her back when the Assembly election is due next year?
— Taslima Nasreen
Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who had uttered these words in 2008 from an undisclosed location in Delhi, is visiting India this year. Recently, Taslima has expressed her desire from the United States, (she is there to complete a year-long fellowship in human rights at New York University) to settle down in Kolkata. “I don’t want to settle in the West. I’m waiting to see if the West Bengal authorities would allow me to return to Kolkata,” she told reporters.
She is visiting India on January 16 to renew her visa that expires on February 17. Also, she will be visiting Kolkata on the Republic Day to collect an award given to her by the ‘Bhanusinha Samman’ Committee. Taslima has been nominated for her immense contribution to art and literature. Besides, she will also attend the launch of the sixth instalment of her most-awaited autobiographical novel, ‘Nei, Kicchu Nei’, (No Entity) at the Kolkata Book Fair.
In 2008, circumstances forced her to cancel the publication of this book and, under tremendous pressure from some quarters, she was forced to delete some parts from her controversial book “Dwikhondito”. The content had triggered riots in a few areas of Kolkata. On August 17, 2007, dozens of clerics from prominent mosques in Kolkata issued a “death warrant” against Taslima for her “repeated criticism” of Islam.
Urging her to leave the country, they declared that they would offer money to anybody who would kill her. An unknown radical body, the All India Minority Forum, organised violent protests in Kolkata on November 21. And with fear of violence spreading to other parts of the state, the Left Front government forcefully shifted Taslima from Kolkata to Jaipur and then to New Delhi. This came just a week after she was attacked in Hyderabad during the launch of the Telugu translation of one of her novels. Some legislators from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen had led the attack. Since then, a lot has changed. Now, Taslima’s friends are mounting pressure on the West Bengal government to allow her to stay in Kolkata. They have appealed to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and other senior politicians to provide her security if she returns to the city. Shyamali Banerjee, director of the India International Women’s Film Festival, and its chairperson Anita Roy Chowdhury have written to the chief minister regarding Taslima’s visit. They want the government to let her settle down in West Bengal.
But the question is will the embattled state government antagonise the Muslim voters by allowing her back when the Assembly election is due next year?
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