Leaders who drove me out of Bengal are now also portraying me as a supporter of BJP and RSS !

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen criticises communist parties

Kolkata (Bengal) – Bangladeshi writer-in-exile Taslima Nasreen criticised the communist parties on X, saying, “The very leaders who once drove me out of Bengal are now trying to portray me as a supporter of BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.” Nasreen also said, “These parties claim that simply by setting foot in Bengal, I have now become a supporter of Hindutva, BJP or RSS.” Nasreen is scheduled to visit Kolkata after nearly 19 years.

Taslima Nasreen further stated:

1. My visit to Kolkata has been organised at the invitation of a secular organisation. This organisation functions under the leadership of Usman Ghani Malik, a progressive Muslim.

2. The role of the Bengal Government is limited to providing security. Neither BJP nor the Government has any role in my Kolkata visit. The responsibility for my security lies with the respective State Government wherever I travel.

3. During the tenure of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Government in Kerala, I visited the State several times with Z+ security, and these same communist leaders had raised no objection at that time. Did these communist leaders in Kolkata abuse me for being left-wing at that time ? Did they welcome my visits ?

4. The communist parties remained silent on the issue of freedom of expression in order to appease Islamic fanatics.

In 2007, following violent protests in Bengal over Nasreen’s autobiography ‘Dwikhandita’, the then communist coalition Government of Bengal forced her to leave Kolkata. The Trinamool Congress Government that came to power thereafter also imposed restrictions on her entry into the State and on some of her literary works and television broadcasts.