By IANS
Kolkata : City intellectuals Thursday came out in support of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, a day after the city witnessed violent street protests by a Muslim organisation over her stay in West Bengal and over the Nandigram violence.
However, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Biman Bose has asked her to quit the state if her stay leads to breach of peace.
Noted writer and Sahitya Akademi award winner Sunil Gangopadhyay said in support of the writer, who has been staying in the city since 2004: “It is inhuman to ask Taslima to leave the city or call for revocation of her visa. If any person dislikes her writings, he can protest democratically without burning down cars or harassing people.”
“The protesters have forgotten that after West Bengal government banned her book ‘Dwikhandwita’ (Split In Two) in 2003, the Calcutta High Court revoked the ban, citing Article 19 of the Constitution which allows freedom of speech and expression. If some sections of the people do not agree with it, then they should appeal to the Supreme Court and not resort to mindless violence,” he said.
Kolkata turned into a combat zone Wednesday after street protests over Taslim Nasreen’s stay in India and the Nandigram atrocities by a nondescript Muslim organisation turned violent and the mob torched vehicles, offices and stoned policemen.
Pushed on the back foot after the violence in Nandigram, the CPI-M state secretary tried to downplay the government’s role in facilitating Taslima’s stay in the city by putting the blame on the central ministers.
“The chief minister offered her refuge in the city at the behest of two central ministers. Now that some people don’t want her here, she should leave the state,” Bose told reporters Wednesday evening.
Playwright and theatre actor Rudra Prasad Sengupta saw in the CPI-M leader’s statement a sinister move to play the communal card when the city was in the midst of doldrums.
“It is nothing but a cheap ploy to side with the minority community and stoke public anger against the writer when the need of the hour is to maintain calm,” Sengupta told IANS.
Theatre actor and director Usha Ganguly lambasted the government for making an issue out of a “non-issue”.
“I think we should show some maturity and deal with the situation accordingly,” she said.
“It is wrong to club the issue of ejection of Taslima Nasreen from Bengal with the killings in Nandigram. Instead of adding fuel to the fire by asking the writer to leave the state, the government as well as its leaders should condemn the hooliganism resorted to by a section of the community,” she said.
Actor Arindam Sil turned out to be the voice of reason. “I think we have had enough of protests in the city. Instead of asking anybody to leave the state, we all can live in peace and harmony in the best traditions of the city,” he said.