By IANS
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a hard time defending refusal of its government in Rajasthan to host exiled Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasreen, who was hurriedly removed from Kolkata to Jaipur after trouble broke out in the metropolis over her presence two days ago.
Prominent BJP leader Vasundhra Raje is heading the ministry in the state for last four and a half years. The BJP also had criticised the West Bengal government and the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) for not providing adequate protection to Taslima.
The BJP had also forcefully demanded that Taslima’s visa in India be extended and backed her demand for a permanent asylum here.
When confronted with this, BJP senior leader Sushma Swaraj said, “The chief minister should have been given an advance notice so that she could have made adequate security arrangements for her. You first talk to the chief minister and only then send her there.”
She denied that the BJP-ruled Rajasthan government was reluctant to host her. She said, “We are not refusing. It is a matter of propriety,” Sushma said defending Vasundhra Raje.