Kolkata, Jan 30 (IANS) Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen Thursday urged book-lovers in the city to grab her latest outing “Nishiddho (Forbidden)” available at the ongoing 38th International Kolkata Book Fair “before the West Bengal government bans it.”
Also available at the fair are the set of her seven-part autobiography, including the popular first book titled “Amar Meye Bela (My Girlhood)”.
“Hi Kolkata! Buy ‘Nishiddho’ before the govt bans it…,” Nasreen tweeted.
In December last year, a Bengali TV serial based on her script was axed by the channel producers in the wake of protests lodged by religious minority groups who appealed to state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to prohibit its telecast.
The TV serial – “Dusahobas” was scheduled to be screened from Dec 19 on a Bengali TV channel.
As many as 22 organisations had opposed the telecast of “Dusahobas”, which, according to the celebrated feminist, “portrays women in strong roles, fighting against oppression and demanding their rights”.
However, the groups claimed the script could “hurt the sentiments of the community”.
Exiled from Bangladesh in 1994 for “hurting religious sentiments” with her novel “Lajja”, Nasreen took refuge in the city in 2004. But after violent protests in the city November 2007, the erstwhile Left Front government whisked her away to New Delhi where she has been residing since then.
Recently Nasreen had expressed dismay that she wasn’t allowed to visit the book fairs in Kolkata and Dhaka.