By Avijit Chatterjee, IANS
Kolkata : The city’s intelligentsia expressed outrage over the shunting out of controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen from Kolkata, describing it as a “blot” on the government even as the police said she left on her own at the invitation of her friends in Rajasthan.
The Bangladeshi writer left Kolkata for Jaipur Thursday evening after Kolkata Police warned her of a possible attack. Later, the writer left the Pink City and moved towards Delhi by road Friday morning.
“It is certainly a blot on the government. I know for certain she would not have liked to leave Kolkata on her own. Taslima has told me several times she felt more safe in Kolkata than anywhere else,” noted writer and Sahitya Akademi award winner Sunil Gangopadhyay told IANS.
“It is surprising that when the state government could give shelter to Qutubuddin Ansari who became the face of Gujarat riots, it failed to provide a safe shelter to Taslima. It is absolutely shameful that the West Bengal government has buckled under pressure from the fundamentalists,” he said.
Kolkata turned into a combat zone Wednesday after street protests by a nondescript Muslim organisation over Nasreen’s stay in India and the Nandigram atrocities went into a violent spin, with mobs torching vehicles and offices and damaging public transport.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose upped the ante by asking the author to leave the state if the people did not want her but later clarified saying it was up to the central government to decide on the demand for cancellation of her visa.
Noted playwright and theatre actor Rudra Prasad Sengupta said the state government had played into the hands of the Islamic fundamentalists by allowing the writer to leave Kolkata.
“It is illogical to force any one to leave the state. What the state government could have done is to enhance her security and not surrender to the hardliners who held Kolkata to ransom Wednesday,” Sengupta told IANS.
Writer Nabanita Dev Sen, however, had a different take refusing, to see Nasreen’s shift out of Kolkata as a blot on the government.
“Why should it be seen as a blot on the government? The authorities may have felt Kolkata was not safe for her and had therefore asked her to move out. She is a free citizen and has the right to stay wherever she likes.
“But at the same time I condemn the hooliganism that occurred in the city Wednesday over Taslima’s stay in the city. Islamic fundamentalism should be dealt with a strong hand,” she said.
“I am sure she will return to Kolkata after the situation returns to normal,” she added.
Mahasweta Devi, noted author and social activist, said: “I saw on television that she was taken away from her residence to the airport by the police. It clearly hints at state government’s influence behind the move. Actually, it is the follow-up of the comment made by Left Front chairman Biman Bose.” She added it would encourage the religious fundamentalism.
Noted poet Shankha Ghosh also termed the move unjustified and dangerous.
“The move would encourage fundamentalism. It could cause a lot of problems,” he said.
The police, on their part, tried to give a different spin to her sudden moving out.
“We gave her full support when she was in Kolkata. She has gone out of Kolkata several times and always informed us. Now, it is being portrayed as if she had to flee Bengal. She has left at the invitation of her friends in Rajasthan,” police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty told IANS.