Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 27, 2007
Yechury washes hands of: She moved to Jaipur on her own
Bangladeshi author replies: I was forced to leave Kolkata
Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Monday reiterated that she wished to return to Kolkata, putting the secular professions of the Left Front ruling West Bengal to an acid test.
"Bangladesh has closed its doors on me. Now if West Bengal also closes its doors I will be nowhere. I will die without Kolkata. I am a Bengali after all," Nasreen reportedly told Bengali news channel Choubish Ghanta over phone from New Delhi.
"Why should I take a decision on my own? I was forced to leave Kolkata. It did come to my mind that someone would come and kill me. Many like my writings, many others don't," she told the channel.
The lament from the controversial writer, who is now living under heavy police protection in New Delhi after being shunted out from Kolkata, caught the CPI(M) that leads the Left Front ducking for answers.
A day after West Bengal Chief Minister's flip-flop over whether his Government was willing to take Taslima back, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the State Government had no role to play in deciding her stay in the country.
"Whether she should remain in India or not and whether her visa should be extended or not is a decision to be taken by the Central Government. It is beyond the scope of any State Government. Let the Central Government decide on this," he said.
Yechury declined to comment on Rajasthan Government's statement that Kolkata police refused to allow her back on technical ground, saying, "The West Bengal Government will answer this question."
He was equally unwilling to speak out his party's view on granting asylum to the writer as demanded by human rights groups.
"There are established rules and laws. The Central Government decides on this on the basis of information it has," was his laconic answer to all such questions.
As the Left parties squirmed, the main Opposition party BJP went ballistic, demanding that the UPA Government grant her the status of a "political refugee".
"It is a shame for the entire nation that Taslima Nasreen is made to run for her life," party's deputy leader in the Lok Sabha VK Malhotra said.
While taking pot shots at the "pseudo-secular Communists", he also sought to put Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the dock for their "sinister silence" on the issue.
"She should be allowed to stay wherever she wants," Malhotra said.
On Yechury's allegation that the BJP was adopting double-standards by not allowing the return of Indian painter MF Hussain and supporting Nasreen, he said the noted painter can return anytime to face the cases registered against him.
Accusing the Left Front-supported UPA Government of bowing to Islamic fundamentalism, he insisted that Taslima could no longer be the victim of religious persecution and flaunted his party's "secular credentials" by pointing out that the BJP-ruled State Government of Rajasthan had granted her the status of State guest.
Playing Jackel and Hyde, Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi lashed out at the BJP for "lecturing" on Taslima issue but tried to score brownie points with the Left Front by claiming that the Congress-led UPA Government had extended her visa despite reservations expressed by the West Bengal Government.
Meanwhile, the Congress added a new dimension by saying the CPI(M)-led Government in West Bengal had opposed extension of visa to the controversial writer, which was over-ruled by the Centre, adds PTI.