Bangladesh-born Bengali writer Taslima Nasreen, now living in exile in India, was not allowed by organisers of 32nd New York Bengali Book Fair to address a symposium on Sunday, reports a US-based Bangaldeshi news website sandhan24.com.
Taslima, presently in United States, visited the New York Bengali Book Fair on Saturday and was soon surrounded by hundreds of Bengali book lovers, who took her autographs and posed with her for selfies.
The four-day book fair was organized by Muktadhara Foundation at the Jamaica Performing Arts Centre from July 14.
Though Taslima was not invited, she chose to visit the fair at the instance of her common friends including Bengali writer Sitangshu Guha and other local residents.
The coordinator of the book fair invited her to address a symposium the next day for 20 minutes, but the organizing committee was later divided on whether to invite her to speak or not.
The debate went late into the night, after which Taslima was conveyed that she would not be allowed to address the symposium, the website reported.
Bangladeshi journalist Hasanuzzaman Saqi said, “it is a matter of sadness and shame that after being disallowed to enter Bangladesh and West Bengal, Taslima has now been disallowed to address people from her own country in New York. A section of the organizers displayed narrowmindedness in disallowing her to speak”.
The New York Bengali Book Fair was inaugurated on July 14 by Bangladeshi writer Shahaduzzaman and freedom fighter Dr Setara Rahman was the chief guest.
Taslima Nasreen was forced to flee from Bangladesh in 1994 after fundamentalist Muslim clerics issued death ‘fatwa’ against her for targeting Islam in her novels and writings.
Her ground-breaking novel in Bengali ‘Lajja’ (Shame) based on anti-Hindu riots in Bangladesh after the demolition of Babri Masjid in India, continues to remain a bestseller.
Bangladesh government banned ‘Lajja’ and some of her subsequent books, and revoked her Bangladeshi passport, forcing her to seek asylum in several Western countries, before she made India her home.
In 2007, a mob led by Muslim fanatics attacked her at a meeting in Hyderabad. She was forced to leave Kolkata for security reasons after Islamic fundamentalists went on a rampage.
Taslima has been living in Delhi since 2012 under tight security and her residence permit is extended almost every year.
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