Famous author Taslima Nasrin has returned to West Bengal almost 19 years after she was forced to leave India following a massive protest by a radical mob. Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen has travelled back to Kolkata, marking her first visit in nearly two decades. Her itinerary includes a book launch event at Rabindra Sadan for her newly released autobiography.
This trip represents her first time back in the city since a forced departure in 2007, which was triggered by violent demonstrations opposing her controversial book, Dwikhondito. Nasreen had originally settled in Kolkata after escaping Bangladesh a decade prior, only to be driven out again by the political and social unrest surrounding her memoir.
Nasrin will be attending an anti-fundamentalism literary event on August 1, nearly two decades after her forced exile from the city she chose as home since being banished from her homeland in Bangladesh.
In March last year, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP, Samik Bhattacharya, now the party chief in West Bengal, had sought that she be allowed to return to Kolkata, which she left in 2007 amid widespread protests against her published works.
Now, her visit underscores a shifting political dynamic under the new state government, challenging past precedents of capitulation to religious sensitivities. Nasrin could return to Bengal under the TMC rule.
Her initial tenure in Kolkata – considered the cultural capital closest to her native Bengali heritage – was abruptly ended by street violence. In November 2007, hardline groups enforced violent shutdowns and riots in the city, demanding her expulsion for her autobiographical writings, such as ‘Dwikhandito’ (split in two)’.
Under massive pressure, the then Left Front government allegedly capitulated and Nasrin had to relocate out of Kolkata, reportedly to ensure public order. Ban on her writings continued as did a bar on her from entering the state under the subsequent Trinamool regime as well. Her forced removal from the city that she considered her adopted home became a lingering sore point for advocates of free speech.
The new state government is proactively extending security for Nasrin’s visit and projecting the event as an ideological reversal.
Experts feel that by facilitating her return, the current establishment is signalling a paradigm shift – positioning the state as a defender of liberal values against fundamentalist pressure, a move that will resonate deeply in upcoming political and cultural discourses across India.
Before establishing herself as a prominent and polarising advocate for gender parity and religious scepticism, Taslima Nasrin practised medicine.
Her life changed dramatically in 1993 with the release of her book Lajja (Shame). The novel focused on the violent backlash faced by Bangladesh’s Hindu community following the destruction of the Babri Masjid in India, drawing fierce condemnation from conservative religious groups. Islamic extremists targeted Nasrin due to her direct challenges to patriarchal traditions, religious laws, and perceived systemic oppression within religious institutions.
Hardline clerics in Dhaka declared her an apostate, issued fatwas calling for her death, and placed a financial bounty on her head. These edicts mobilised massive crowds demanding her execution.
To escape imminent danger to her safety, Nasrin fled Bangladesh in 1994, eventually finding asylum in Sweden and several other European nations.
