Taslima Nasreen Returns to Kolkata After 19 Years Ahead of Literary Event

PTI, July 31, 2026, Kolkata: Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Friday returned to Kolkata after nearly 19 years, describing the visit as an emotional homecoming to a city she still considers her own. Her arrival comes ahead of a literary event on Saturday that has acquired political resonance under West Bengal's new BJP government.

With folded hands, Nasreen greeted those waiting to receive her at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and said, "I am feeling very good to be back."

Her return marks her first visit to Kolkata since November 2007, when she was compelled to leave the city following violent protests over her writings, ending what she had often described as the closest thing to home after her exile from Bangladesh.

The author will make her first public appearance here at an anti-fundamentalism literary programme at Rabindra Sadan, where she is expected to recite poetry. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and renowned author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay are among those expected to attend.

Though conceived as a literary gathering, the event has inevitably assumed political significance, coming months after the BJP formed the government in West Bengal and amid renewed debate over freedom of expression, secularism and the state's approach towards religious sensitivities.

Organisers have maintained that Saturday's programme is intended to celebrate Nasreen's lifelong opposition to religious fundamentalism and reaffirm the principle of freedom of expression rather than serve as a political platform.