Kolkata: Nearly two decades after being asked to leave Kolkata following controversy over one of her books, exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen is set to make her first public appearance in the city at a literary event on Saturday.
Her return to Kolkata for a programme focused on opposing religious fundamentalism, where she is expected to recite poetry, has drawn attention amid the political change in West Bengal under the new government.
Nasreen arrived in Kolkata on Friday, describing the visit as a "homecoming".
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, noted Bengali author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, and several writers, artists and intellectuals are expected to attend the programme.
The BJP has sought to present Nasreen's return as an affirmation of freedom of expression, while the organisers have maintained that the event is solely intended to celebrate literature and oppose religious extremism.
Nasreen's return to Kolkata has reignited debate over freedom of expression, secularism and the state's response to religious sensitivities.
The BJP has described the event as a correction of what it calls the failures of the previous Left Front and Trinamool Congress governments to protect freedom of expression in the face of religious pressure.
The Left Front and the Trinamool Congress, however, have consistently maintained that the decision to ask Nasreen to leave Kolkata in 2007 was based solely on law-and-order concerns as communal tensions escalated in parts of the city.
Organisers have repeatedly emphasised that Saturday's event is neither a political rally nor a government function, but a literary gathering dedicated to opposing religious fundamentalism and reaffirming the principle of freedom of expression.
Speaking to PTI, Nasreen said returning to Kolkata for her first public appearance felt like coming back to "my own country" and expressed hope that the visit would reaffirm the importance of freedom of expression and the protection of dissenting voices.
"Bengal has never been divided in my heart by a border or a barbed-wire fence. The door to the eastern part of Bengal remains closed to me, so for now, this part of Bengal is my home," she said.
The author also described the visit as symbolising the return of a voice that religious fundamentalists had once sought to silence. She thanked the organisers and the West Bengal government for facilitating her visit and providing security.
Nasreen fled Bangladesh in 1994 after receiving death threats over her novel Lajja and settled in Kolkata in 2004, embracing the city as her cultural refuge.
Her stay ended abruptly in November 2007 after violent protests erupted over portions of her memoir Dwikhandito, which had already been banned by the then Left Front government in 2003 for allegedly hurting the sentiments of sections of the Muslim community.
As the protests intensified and the Army was deployed in parts of Kolkata to restore order, the then government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asked her to leave the city.
Nasreen was later moved to Jaipur and then Delhi before eventually leaving India. Despite living abroad, she has repeatedly expressed a desire to return to Kolkata for literary engagements.
The issue resurfaced last year when Rajya Sabha MP and West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya urged the Union government in Parliament to facilitate her return, describing Nasreen as a fearless voice against Islamist fundamentalism.
