Kolkata, Aug 1 (PTI) Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Saturday said her return to Kolkata after 19 years was proof that “injustice can be long but cannot be permanent”, while asserting that her fight has always been for women’s rights and freedom of expression, and not for or against any political party.
Speaking at a cultural event in the city, an emotional Nasreen describes the homecoming as the end of a long personal exile from the city she considers home.
“After coming back to Kolkata, I feel like coming back to a part of life which I left behind here,” said the 63-year-old writer who was forced to leave the city in 2007.
Earlier in 1994, she left Bangladesh in the face of death threats from radical groups over her writings and her views on religion.
Reflecting on her long years in exile, Nasreen said she dreams of a future where no writer would be forced to leave their homeland for expressing their views.
Nasreen, who has been living in Europe after being forced to leave Bangladesh, said she was not attending the programme to advance any political agenda.
“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,” she said.
Reiterating her long-held opposition to religious extremism, Nasreen said, “I am against all forms of fundamentalism, but I have spoken against Islamic fundamentalists because I have seen it from close quarters since childhood,” she said.
Expressing concern over the situation in Bangladesh, Nasreen alleged that religious extremism was on the rise and freedom of speech was increasingly under threat.
“The rise of fundamentalism in Bangladesh is at an alarming stage. Freedom of speech is being curtailed,” the author said.
She said she hoped for a future where women and religious minorities in Bangladesh could live in safety and dignity.
Recalling the pain of being forced to stay away from Kolkata, Nasreen said she had never forgotten the circumstances under which she had to leave the city in 2007.
“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,” she said.
Her remarks appeared to be a reference to the circumstances that led to her departure from Kolkata in 2007, when protests over the publication of her book ‘Dwikhandito’ (Split: A Life) forced the then Left Front government to move her out of the city.
Visibly emotional, Nasreen said it had taken her nearly two decades to utter a sentence she had longed to say.
“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,” she said.
Describing August as the defining month of her life, Nasreen said it now symbolised not only her birth and exile but also her return.
“On August 8, 1994, the then government forced me to leave Bangladesh. In just seven days, my exile would have completed 32 years. The state may have removed me from my country, but it could never remove my country from within me,” she said.
Lamenting that she could not find a permanent home in either Bangladesh or West Bengal, Nasreen said Europe had given her citizenship and 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,” she said.
The author maintained that she had never been convicted by any court but had nevertheless paid a heavy price because of fundamentalists.
Questioning why she continued to face restrictions despite never having been convicted of any offence, she said, “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. Protecting a writer’s life means protecting her freedom of speech and the freedom of her pen.” Rejecting allegations that her writings had harmed anyone, Nasreen said her advocacy had always centred 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. These simple words were treated as my crime,” she said.
She also criticised what she described as the unequal treatment of women in the name of religion.
“Those who call for freedom for their own daughters a right, but justify medieval rituals for Muslim daughters as norms, are not friends of the Muslim community,” she said.
Expressing support for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) across South Asia, Nasreen argued that religion-based personal laws discriminate against women and that a common civil code founded on equality was essential for gender justice and modern democracy.
“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,” she said. PTI PNT NN
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