Taslima Nasreen returns to Kolkata after nearly two decades
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Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen returned to Kolkata on Friday, nearly two decades after she was forced to leave the city following protests over her controversial memoir "Dwikhondito".
"I am really liking it here," Nasreen said after arriving at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport.
This marks her first public appearance in Kolkata since 2007, when protests against her memoir compelled her to leave the city, where she had lived after fleeing Bangladesh a decade earlier. The then Left Front government had banned "Dwikhondito" in 2003, alleging that it hurt religious sentiments. The 63-year-old writer now lives in Delhi on a long-term residence permit.
Nasreen is scheduled to attend a programme against fundamentalism at Rabindra Sadan on Saturday. Organisers said she will recite her poems, participate in a discussion and attend a civic reception in her honour.
Speaking earlier, Nasreen described her return as a "personal homecoming".
"I never left Kolkata willingly; the then West Bengal government forced me to leave the state. Yet I never stopped hoping that one day I would return. Year after year passed, governments changed, and still the door remained closed," she said.
Her visit has triggered a political controversy.
Trinamool Congress MLA Akhruzzaman alleged that Nasreen had frequently spoken against Muslims and claimed that was the reason the "double-engine government" was welcoming her.
West Bengal minister Agnimitra Paul welcomed Nasreen's return, saying she had been denied the opportunity to visit the state under the previous government despite concerns over her security. Paul said Nasreen's visit was a matter of pride and joy under the present government.