By IANS
New Delhi : Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, living at an undisclosed address in New Delhi under state protection, is understood to have been told by Indian officials that she could either continue to stay here or leave the country, highly placed sources said.
The 45-year-old writer, who has been virtually on the run since November when she was forced to leave Kolkata following violent protests by radical Muslims demanding her ouster from India, was told of this decision Thursday.
“The West Bengal government has refused to have her back and she has been insisting on her return there. Given the circumstances, we told her that Delhi was the only place she could stay or she could exercise the option of leaving India,” said a top intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Shuttling first between Jaipur and then Delhi, Nasreen has been staying temporarily in a ‘safe house’ within the National Security Guards complex for the last three weeks.
Unhappy because of her dislocation from Kolkata, her adopted home, Nasreen, has been constantly “badgering” home ministry officials to take her back where she has been staying for the last three years.
“I dream of walking around freely in Kolkata. I want to go back, it is my home. I think fundamentalist forces cannot afford to dictate terms,” Nasreen said a month back from the safe house she was put up.
On Nov 30 Nasreen even agreed to expunge the controversial portions from her biography “Dwidhandita” (Split in Two)that triggered the riots in Kolkata.
However, news channels quoting Nasreen said she might consider leaving India. “Given a choice, I will prefer to leave India,” the Bangladeshi author told CNN-IBN.
Last month, in a delicate balancing act, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee promised to “shelter” Nasreen, but urged her to “refrain from activities and expressions” that may hurt the sentiments of Indian people and harm relations with friendly countries.
Mukherjee’s statement came amid the politicisation of the issue of Nasreen’s continuing stay in India with the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding that she given the status of a political refugee.
However, West Bengal’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) washed its hands off the matter saying the Bangladeshi writer moved out on her own and it was for the government to decide where she should stay.
CPI-M politburo member Sitaram Yechury has repeatedly asserted that the controversial writer was not forced out of Kolkata by the West Bengal government and the state had no role to play in deciding her stay in the country.