‘My return to Kolkata proves injustice can be long but not permanent’: Taslima Nasreen

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen in Kolkata. (PTI Photo)

NEW DELHI: Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Saturday described her return to India after nearly two decades as proof that “injustice can be long but cannot be permanent.”She made the remarks at an event in Kolkata, nearly two decades after she was forced to leave the city in 2007. The 63-year-old writer had been living in Kolkata since leaving Bangladesh in 1994 amid death threats from radical groups over her writings and views on religion.Nasreen, who has been living in Europe, also clarified that her return to Kolkata was not linked to any political agenda.”Today, the opening of this door proves that injustice can be long, but it cannot be permanent. History remembers who closed the doors and who opened them…I am not here to speak for any political party, or against any party. I am here to speak in favour of women’s rights,” PTI quoted her as saying.She also expressed concern over what she described as a “rise” in religious extremism in Bangladesh.”I am against all forms of fundamentalism, but I have spoken against Islamic fundamentalists because I have seen it from close quarters since childhood. The rise of fundamentalism in Bangladesh is at an alarming stage. Freedom of speech is being curtailed,” Nasreen said.Visibly emotional, Nasreen described her return as the “fulfilment of a long-awaited moment.””It took me 19 years to say these words: ‘I have returned to Kolkata.’ I felt the pain of losing an address every single day. On August 8, 1994, the then government forced me to leave Bangladesh. The state may have removed me from my country, but it could never remove my country from within me,” she added.Lamenting that she could not find a permanent home in either Bangladesh or West Bengal, Nasreen highlighted that Europe had provided her security but not a sense of belonging.”Europe has given me citizenship and a place to live, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get a small place to stay in the two Bengals. Europe gave me security, but it could not give me a sense of belonging. A home is not built by security alone; it is built by language, memory and culture,” Nasreen remarked.Nasreen maintained that she had never been convicted by any court but had faced restrictions because of opposition from fundamentalist groups.”I committed no crime. No court has ever punished me. It is a painful truth of our times that a writer needs police protection to visit the city of her own language.”

Rejecting allegations that her writings were offensive, she emphasised that her advocacy had focused on equality and human rights.”I only spoke about equal rights for women and men, and about human rights irrespective of religion or caste. I said that any rule or doctrine that takes away equality and human dignity must be changed.”She also criticised what she described as the unequal treatment of women in the name of religion and backed a Uniform Civil Code across South Asia, arguing that religion-based personal laws discriminate against women.”The real conflict is between secularism and fundamentalism, between the rational mind and irrationality, between innovation and tradition, and between people who value freedom and those who do not.”