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Buddhadeb should resign: Mahasweta Devi

“He hounded Taslima out of Kolkata to get Muslim votes”

Kolkata: Writer Mahasweta Devi on Wednesday accused West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of being a “greater fundamentalist,” than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for he “had conspired to throw Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen out of the State,” and demanded his resignation.

“Bhattacharjee has said his Gujarat counterpart, Narendra Modi, is a fundamentalist but what is he doing here? He hounded Taslima out of the city to get Muslim votes in the coming panchayat polls in the State,” the Magsaysay award-winning writer told a press conference here. “The Chief Minister is a greater fundamentalist. He hatched a conspiracy to hound her [Taslima] out of the State. He should resign,” she charged, and demanded that Ms. Nasreen be allowed to return to Kolkata. Ms. Devi said she had spoken to Ms. Nasreen, who is staying in an undisclosed destination in Delhi, on Tuesday night and she wanted to return to the city.

“She is ill. Proper treatment was not given to her. As a writer, I demand that she be allowed to return to Kolkata,” she said. She was flanked by Hindi poet Kedar Nath Singh and Bengali poet Joy Goswami. — PTI

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