The Hindu : Front Page : I feel at home in West Bengal: Taslima

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Feb 18, 2005

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I feel at home in West Bengal: Taslima

NEW DELHI, FEB. 17. After 10 years in self-imposed exile from Bangladesh, controversial writer Taslima Nasreen today sought Indian citizenship saying she "dreams of living in West Bengal where I feel at home."

Ms. Nasreen, who was here this morning, said she had faxed a letter to the Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, expressing her desire for Indian citizenship or residential permit whatever is possible." "I have not asked for any political asylum. I have just asked for residential permit or citizenship," Ms. Nasreen, who has been living in Europe and the United States since leaving Bangladesh in 1994, told NDTV 24X7.

Asked why she wanted to live in West Bengal, she said: "I am a Bengali and I want to stay in West Bengal because I feel at home there. I love to speak and hear Bengali. I dream of living in Bengal, either East or West."

"[The] East has already closed the door for me. It would be wonderful if I am allowed to stay in Kolkata or anywhere in West Bengal," the doctor-turned-writer added.

Ms. Nasreen's 1993 novel Lajja, depicting the plight of Hindus in Bangladesh soon after the demolition of the Babri Masjid, was banned in Bangladesh.

— PTI

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