My return to Kolkata after 19 years proves injustice cannot be permanent, says author Taslima Nasreen

Kolkata: Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Saturday said her return to Kolkata after nearly two decades was proof that "injustice can be long but not permanent", while asserting that her fight has always been for women's rights and freedom of expression, not for or against any political party.

Speaking at a cultural event in the city, Nasreen said, "After coming back to Kolkata, I feel like coming back to a part of life which I left behind here."

Reflecting on her long years in exile, the author said she hoped for a future where no writer would be forced to leave their homeland for expressing their views.


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"My return proves injustice can be long, but cannot be permanent. I dream of a day when no writer would ever need to be exiled from her country," she said.

Nasreen, who had lived in Europe after being forced to leave Bangladesh over threats from Islamist fundamentalists, 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 for women's rights," she said.

Lamenting that she could not find a permanent home in either Bangladesh or West Bengal, she said, "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."

The author maintained that she had never been convicted by any court but had nevertheless paid a heavy price for expressing her views.

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"No court has ever punished me, but I had to pay the price because of fundamentalists," she said.

The exiled Bangladeshi author had lived in Kolkata between 2004 and 2007 before being asked to leave the city by the then Left Front government amid violent protests over portions of her memoir 'Dwikhandito' (Split: A Life).