Taslima wants Kolkata, but City of Joy turns her away

LONELY CRUSADER: Taslima had to flee to Jaipur and then Delhi after Kolkata erupted in protests.

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Keywords: Taslima Nasreen, Central Government

Kolkata: Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has been told that she cannot return to Kolkata. The Central Government has told her that she either continues to stay in Delhi under strict protection or leave the country.

The 45-year-old writer, who had been on the run last month after protests by Islamic groups in Kolkata, is currently living in an undisclosed location near the Capital.

“I want to live in Kolkata,” Taslima had recently said, but it seems the Government is not paying any heed to the author’s requests.

"It is upto the Central Government to decide where Taslima Nasreen will stay, the state government has nothing to do with it," said Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) politburo member.

When asked that if the state government had conveyed to the Centre that Taslima can't return, he said he was not aware of any such communication in between the Centre and the state.

But the West Bengal government has reportedly made it clear that it will not play host to Taslima. Kolkata, where the writer has lived for three years, is now out of bounds for her.

Taslima’s visa expires in March 2008 and the Government has given no clear indication on whether it will be extended or not.

Taslima had to flee to Jaipur and then Delhi after Kolkata erupted in protests in November against some passages in her book Dwikhandito with minority groups demanding that she leave India immediately.

Reacting to the Centre's decision, the Secretary of All India Minority Forum, Kolkata, Idris Ali said Taslima has no right to stay in India. “She should leave India as soon as possible,” he said.

Even though she has withdrawn the offending paragraphs from the book, she is still friendless with support from fellow writers not forthcoming either. With only the BJP to support her and in the wake of the new Government order, Taslima is more isolated than ever before.