You drove me out: Taslima Nasrin rejects BJP link to Kolkata visit, slams Left
Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin has rejected allegations by some Left leaders in West Bengal that her upcoming visit to Kolkata reflected support for the
Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin has rejected allegations by some Left leaders in West Bengal that her upcoming visit to Kolkata reflected support for the BJP or the RSS, saying the claims are false and politically motivated. In a strongly worded post on X ahead of her August 1 visit, Nasrin clarified that she had been invited by Secular Mission, an organisation headed by progressive Muslim leader Osman Gani Mallik, and not by any political party. Read Full Story "Is the BJP taking me to Kolkata? No. Is the West Bengal government taking me there? No," she wrote, adding that the state government's role was limited to providing security, which she described as a routine administrative responsibility extended to visiting public figures. Nasrin accused some Left leaders of branding her a Hindutva supporter despite, she said, the Left Front government having forced her out of West Bengal years ago. "Yet some Left leaders in West Bengal are blaming me for going to Kolkata.
They were the ones who drove me out of West Bengal; now, according to them, merely setting foot in the state means that I am a Hindutva supporter, that I belong to the BJP and the RSS," she wrote. Drawing a comparison with her visits to Kerala, Nasrin said she had previously travelled there at the invitation of the CPI(M)-led government, which welcomed her and provided Z-plus security. She questioned why the same Left leaders who remained silent then were now criticising her visit to Kolkata. "I have visited Kerala many times at the invitation of the CPI(M) government. The Left leaders there welcomed me, honoured me and arranged Z-plus security for me. Did these Left leaders in Kolkata then abuse me by calling me a “Leftist,” or did they shower me with kisses of approval? They conveniently kept their eyes shut then. Do their eyes ever truly open when it comes to me?" Nasrin said. The author also alleged that neither the Left Front government nor the Trinamool Congress administration defended her freedom of expression.
"The Left Front government drove me out of Kolkata. The Trinamool government that followed did not allow me to enter West Bengal either. Not only that, it stopped the television broadcast of a long-running serial written by me and cancelled my book launch. Did Bengal’s so-called progressives utter a single word in defence of freedom of expression then? No, they did not," she said. I have been invited to Kolkata by an organisation called Secular Mission. The organisation is headed by a progressive Muslim, Osman Gani Mallik. Is the BJP taking me to Kolkata? No. Is the West Bengal government taking me there? No. The elected government of West Bengal is— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) July 19, 2026 KOLKATA RETURN AFTER 20 YEARS Nasrin is scheduled to return to Kolkata on August 1 for the first time since 2007 to participate in an anti-fundamentalism literary event at Rabindra Sadan. The programme has been organised by a coalition of secular and anti-fundamentalist organisations, where she is expected to recite poetry, take part in a discussion and attend a civic reception.
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