Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Indira Goswami backs Taslima's citizenship request

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Noted Indian writer Indira Goswami Wednesday supported exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen's plea for Indian citizenship.

"Taslima is a gutsy lady and she is in love with Bengal. She has the right to live in West Bengal as an Indian citizen," Goswami, a Jnanpith award winner, told reporters here.

"It will be nice if she is allowed to stay in this country," she said and criticised the ban imposed on Taslima's autobiographical book "Dwikhandita" by the West Bengal government for its alleged provocative contents.

"Right to expression is a birth right," said the prominent Assamese intellectual who is in the news for her efforts to broker peace between the Indian government and the banned United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).

After a month's stay here, Taslima recently left Kolkata for Europe to participate in a series of conferences and to receive honours, including one from Belgian parliament.

Taslima has requested the Indian government to grant her citizenship.

The controversial writer fled Bangladesh after Islamic fundamentalists accused her of blasphemy in her book "Lajja" and issued death threats against her. She has lived in Europe and the US since then.

She was staying in Kolkata for the past few months and has been granted political asylum by Sweden.

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