Taslima Nasreen returns to Kolkata after 19 years, says 'I'm feeling very good to be back'

Nearly two decades after she was forced to leave Kolkata following protests over her controversial book 'Dwikhandito', exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen is back in the city, which she describes as her 'home' and her 'own country'.

On Friday (July 31), the writer arrived in Kolkata from New Delhi, told people waiting at Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport that she is "feeling very good to be back".

This marks her first public appearance in the city since 2007, when demonstrations over her memoir drove her out of the city she had adopted as home, after fleeing Bangladesh a decade earlier. Her book had been banned by the then CPM-led West Bengal government in 2003 for allegedly wounding religious sentiments. The 63-year-old currently resides in Delhi under a long-term residence permit.

Her arrival comes ahead of a public programme she is expected to attend in Kolkata on August 1.The event is expected to be attended by West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and renowned author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay.

Also read: Bangladesh: Yunus should be imprisoned for life, says Taslima Nasreen

According to reports, the poet who was once charged by the Bangladesh government for defaming Islam, will recite some of her poems and take part in a discussion after attending a civic reception in her honour.

'My own country'

Ahead of her visit, Nasreen told PTI that returning to Kolkata felt like coming back to "my own country" and described the city as her home despite nearly 19 years of exile.

"I feel as though I am returning to my own country. Bengal has never been divided in my heart by a border or a barbed-wire fence. The door to the eastern part of Bengal remains closed to me, so for now, this part of Bengal is my home," she had said.

Nasreen said she was returning "with joy, but also with pain", recalling that Kolkata had given her a home, friends, readers and a sense of belonging before she was forced to leave.

"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 eloquently.

Voice that refused to be silenced

She described her return as more than a personal homecoming, saying it symbolised the return of a voice that fundamentalists had once tried to silence and reaffirmed the importance of freedom of expression.

Nasreen also thanked the organisers and the present West Bengal government for facilitating her visit and providing security. She said the protection of a writer's freedom should not depend on the ideology of any government or the approval of any religious group but must be safeguarded as a fundamental right.

Also read: Taslima Nasreen alleges Hindu man lynched in Bangladesh over false blasphemy claim

Nasreen's memoir 'Dwikhandito' was banned by the then Left Front government in the state in 2003 for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community.

Political row

Her visit has triggered a political row.

Trinamool MLA Akhruzzaman told the media that that the writer has, according to him, repeatedly spoken against Muslims, claiming this is the real reason the "double-engine government" is rolling out the welcome mat.