Taslima Nasrin to visit Bengal in Aug after 19 years

Kolkata: Acclaimed Bangladeshi writer and poet Taslima Nasrin will come to Kolkata on August 1 after 19 years since she left Kolkata for her motherland after pockets in Kolkata turned into virtual battlefields in 2007 during the then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-led regime over the contents of her book “Dwikhandito (The Bifurcated)”.

She will be coming to Kolkata on August 1 to attend a cultural programme at Rabindra Sadan in Central Kolkata organised by different cultural groups, one of which is “Secular Mission”.

The organisers of the cultural programme had invited West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari to be present on the occasion, and the latter had also given consent for the same.

Mohit Roy, one of the organisers, said considering the safety and security of Nasrin is an issue, the state police administration had assured watertight security for her during her stay in the state.

He added that no politics is involved with the cultural events, and the programme will be on different novels, stories and poems penned by Nasrin.

Osman Mallik, a Calcutta High Court counsel and a representative of “Secular Mission”, one of the organisers of the cultural event next month, issued a social media post confirming Nasrin’s presence at the event.

Mallik said in his social media post that the prolonged waiting is over and she is coming, defeating all reactionary forces. He added that they were, are, and will be with her struggle, describing Nasrin as a “fiery symbol of anti-fundamentalist protests”.

However, Nawsad Siddique, the lone All India Secular Front (AISF) MLA in the West Bengal Assembly, has expressed his reservation over the entire development.

Siddique told media persons that the BJP had promised Annapurna Yojana, electricity and women’s safety and came to power. He said whatever they had promised is a failure as of now, and to divert people’s attention from that failure, they are welcoming Nasrin to the state. He questioned what Nasrin would come and say, adding that she will make some anti-Muslim statements and then go back.

In 2007, pockets in Kolkata turned into virtual battlefields over the publication of Nasrin’s novel “Dwikhandito (The Bifurcated)”. Tensions broke out in minority-dominated areas in the city. The situation became so heated that the administration had to deploy the army.

The then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya-led Left Front government even banned the circulation of the book in the state. The Bangladeshi writer was even asked to leave Kolkata.

Later, this unwritten ban on Nasrin remained in force even during the Trinamool Congress government from 2011 to 2016.

IANS