By IANS
Kolkata : Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who has taken shelter in New Delhi, is missing Kolkata and wishes to return to her “home” soon but West Bengal’s ruling communists Sunday remained cagey on the issue and even clarified that Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had not invited her back.
Reacting to a media report that quoted Bhattacharya as saying that Nasreen could return to Kolkata any time, senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Shymal Chakraborty told IANS, “I have spoken to the chief minister who is in Siliguri and he told me that he has made no such comment before any news agency or any electronic media channel.
“We would not make any comment on the issue because it is a matter between the state government and the centre,” he said.
“Our party is meeting on Nov 29 but there are far more important issues to be discussed,” said Chakraborty, skirting any direct comment on the author’s return to Kolkata.
Nasreen, 45, was forced to quit her country following a fatwa against her due to her controversial writings. She had been living in Kolkata for years but had to leave the city Thursday, a day after protests against her stay turned violent.
After staying a night in Jaipur, she reached New Delhi Friday night amid heavy security.
“Right now all I want to say is that I miss my home. I miss my Kolkata. I want to go back to Kolkata,” she told NDTV 24×7 television channel.
Her wish, however, has left West Bengal’s ruling Left Front in a tizzy. The CPI-M-led alliance is facing criticism of buckling before Muslim fundamentalists even as it is wary of a dent in its minority vote bank.
CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose earlier this week had said the author should leave the city, only to backtrack the statement hours later.
On Saturday, CPI-M Central Committee member Binoy Konar too sounded ambivalent when he said, “Taslima Nasreen is free to come back but if her presence creates a law and order problem we have to rethink.”