Author Taslima’s Return To Kolkata Becomes BJP’s Political Statement

Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin’s six-day return to Kolkata, nearly two decades after she was forced out amid violence in autumn 2007, has become a political statement for the BJP government as much as a homecoming. Posters welcomed Nasrin, while chief minister Suvendu Adhikari shared the dais with her. Her return offered the BJP an opportunity to draw a line between its approach and that of the Left Front and Trinamool Congress governments, which Nasrin said had forced her out or prevented her return. Adhikari said the change in West Bengal was not limited to the government’s face but extended to the system, and assured Nasrin of security while inviting her to return whenever she wished. Nasrin, who arrived in late July, thanked the BJP leadership for facilitating her return. She said Kolkata was the closest place to her home in Bangladesh, which she fled in 1994. She contrasted the three political regimes, saying the first had forced her out, the second had prevented her return and the BJP government had facilitated it. She backed implementation of the Uniform Civil Code and a ban on madrasas, both pursued by the BJP government. The BJP presented her return as evidence that it will not allow Muslim fundamentalist groups to dictate terms. The Left and TMC face criticism for placing minority support and electoral calculations above free expression and dissent in the State. During her stay, Nasrin warned that governments yielding to religious fanatics may temporarily avert violence but cannot sustain peace. Her visit comes amid strained India-Bangladesh ties since Sheikh Hasina’s fall in August 2024, and highlights a contradiction: the Adhikari government has spoken of removing suspected Bangladeshi foreigners while welcoming an exiled Bangladeshi writer.