Allow Taslima Nasrin to return to Kolkata, says BJP MP in RS; she reacts

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) Samik Bhattacharya on Monday demanded that expelled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin should be allowed to return to Kolkata, which she left in 2007 amid widespread protests against her literary work.

“Taslima Nasrin wants to come back to Kolkata. This city is like a city of life to her. She wants to compose her work in Bengali,” Bhattacharya said during a Zero Hour discussion in Rajya Sabha.

The BJP leader’s statement comes in the backdrop of Nasrin alleging that the West Bengal government had suppressed artistic expression by preventing the staging of a theatrical adaptation of her book ‘Lajja’. She claimed that her writings remain a target of political appeasement and that her voice is being silenced in the name of maintaining communal harmony.

However, West Bengal police dismissed these claims, asserting that no official orders were issued to stop the play from being performed.

The BJP MP mentioned Nasirn’s novel, Lajja, which features the atrocities faced by a Hindu family in Bangladesh in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, and criticised the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who was in power in West Bengal when the Bangladeshi writer left.

“During the International Women’s Day, they talked about (Marxist theorists) Rosa Luxemburg and Clara Zetkin, but they didn’t utter a single word about Taslima Nasrin,” Bhattacharya said.

Reacting to the MP’s remark, Taslima Nasreen thanked him and said she was exiled from her homeland for standing up for human rights.

“I am grateful and thankful to him for realising how important it is for me to live in the Bengali environment of West Bengal if I want to continue writing in Bengali,” she said in a post on Facebook.

Taslima Nasrin, who had been living in exile in India since 1994, was forced to leave Kolkata in 2007 following violent protests by Islamist groups over her writings. Her book ‘Dwikhandito’ and several of her statements were deemed controversial, leading to demonstrations that turned violent. The unrest escalated to the point that the state government advised her to leave for her safety. She was later relocated to Jaipur and then Delhi under government protection before eventually leaving India.

Over the years, Nasrin has repeatedly expressed her desire to return to Kolkata, which she considers home. However, successive governments in West Bengal have not facilitated her return, citing security concerns. While her presence in India remains a politically sensitive issue, her appeal to return continues to find support among sections of the literary and political communities.