The Hindu : Front Page : Taslima: if I cannot go back to Kolkata, let me live in Delhi

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Friday, Dec 21, 2007
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Taslima: if I cannot go back to Kolkata, let me live in Delhi

Marcus Dam

Kolkata: Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has no intention of leaving India, and she insists on living in Kolkata, which she calls her “home.”

“I want to lead a normal life and if I am not permitted to return to Kolkata, let them [the Centre] arrange for me to lead one in Delhi,” Ms. Nasreen told The Hindu over telephone on Thursday evening, a day after she was told by an External Affairs Ministry official that she would not be able to return to Kolkata.

“The official also told me that if I decide to live on in India, I will have to lead a life in captivity…. I asked him for how long will I not be allowed to go back to Kolkata or will have to continue to lead a life with such restrictions, without any freedom of movement. The answer was ‘I do not know’,” she said.

Ms. Nasreen was speaking from an undisclosed location where she has been put up since she left Jaipur a day after arriving there from Kolkata on November 22.

“I am appealing to the Government of India to reconsider the decision. Why do I have to lead a life in captivity? All I’m asking for is to be able to lead a normal life,” she said.

The author left Kolkata a day after demonstrations in the city, demanding revocation of her visa, turned violent on November 21. Her visa is due to expire on February 17, 2008.

“There is no question of choosing to live anywhere else in the country [other than Delhi], if I cannot go back to Kolkata,” she said.

“It’s a slow death”

On Wednesday, she said: “I had made that city my home; it was a long-cherished dream after I was forced to leave Bangladesh 13 years ago. What have I done that I am not being allowed to return home? I have become, it appears, an embarrassment to all and I have nowhere to go. It is a slow death. I’m dying.”

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