In 2013, visit by controversial author Salman Rushdie to Kolkata, proudly called the cultural capital of India to promote the film ‘Midnight’s Children’, directed by Deepa Mehta based on his novel by the same name, was barred from entering the city due to ‘ security concerns’ by the authority,on January 31. But Rushdie tweeted that “the simple fact is that the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered the police to block my arrival.”
Rushdie, who earlier traveled to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai without any hassles . He was to attend promotions for the film with Deepa Mehta and others associates with the movie. He also thanks to the ‘Indian public & media in Delhi, Bangalore & Mumbai for greeting me so warmly & expressing such affection for my work.’
Eleven years back,Taslima Nasreen, another controversial writer from Bangladesh was thrown out of West Bengal by the ‘secular’ Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front Government.The government had even refused to take her back after a violence by Muslim fundamentalists demanding Taslima’s ouster from the state. At that time, Marxist top leadership said, she should leave if her presence in Bengal causes law and order problem. She resurfaced in New Delhi as a guest of Rajasthan Government. Then External Affairs Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on security where issue of Taslima was discussed. She was put in a secure house manned by National Security Guards in Manasar, Haryana. In February 2010, she returned to India.
Some years back, vioolent protest erupted after a newspaper in karnataka published Taslima’s column.In her writing Taslima advised to Muslim women not to wear burqa as it is the symbol of oppression. In 1993,the Islamic fundamentalist of Bangladesh issued fatwa against her and was forced to leave her country in 1994. She lived in exile in Sweden,Germany,U.S.A,India.
