By IANS
New Delhi : Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta Friday made a strong plea for granting protection and even citizenship to exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.
“A lady in distress should have a place to stay and I appeal to protect her,” Dasgupta said in the Lok Sabha, adding that he would be happy if she decided to stay in Kolkata and offered protection there.
“It is a pity that she had to leave. I apologise for what has happened,” Dasgupta said while alluding to the plight of Nasreen, who was shifted from Kolkata to Jaipur Thursday after violent protests engulfed the city, injuring hundreds.
Nasreeen was said to be staying in a guesthouse on the outskirts of Delhi Friday, sources said.
Saying that Nasreen was “hounded and harassed” in her own country, Dasgupta stressed that the country should not surrender to any form of fundamentalism.
The CPI leader referred to the exiled writer’s wish that she wanted to live and die in India.
Iliyas Azmi of the BSP staged a walkout in response to Dasgupta’s plea for protection for Nasreen.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was present in the house, but he did not respond to Dasgupta’s plea.