The Hindu : National : Appeal for Indian citizenship to Taslima Nasreen

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Sunday, Apr 10, 2005

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National

Appeal for Indian citizenship to Taslima Nasreen

By Our Special Correspondent

KOLKATA, APRIL 9. Several personalities from the arts, literature, education and theatre fields in West Bengal today appealed to the Centre and the West Bengal Government that the Bangladeshi writer-in-exile, Taslima Nasreen, be granted Indian citizenship. If that were difficult, then she should be allowed the right of residence so that she could pursueher literary pursuits, they said.

The Centre should take into account her immense contributions to Bengali literature while considering her appeal for citizenship.

Though she has been exiled from Bangladesh, Bengali is also the language of West Bengal where she has innumerable readers and admirers, they said.

A joint appeal by, among others, the Magsaysay awardee Mahasweta Devi, the Bengali litterateurs Sunil Gangapadhyay and Dibyendu Palit and the economist Amlan Datta, pointed out that though the Swedish Government had provided Ms. Nasreen refuge, "to have to live far away from the people who speak the language of her heart, the language in which she thinks and writes is like death to a creative writer."

"India's great ethical traditions make it obligatory to offer shelter to one who needs it," the appeal added.

Ms. Nasreen expressed the hope that the Indian Government would see reason in her appeal for citizenship. She was the daughter of Bengal, she said.

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