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Taslima's future uncertain, BJP demands citizenship

By IANS

New Delhi/Calcutta/Hyderabad: The fate of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, hounded out of Calcutta and Jaipur by Muslim radicals, remained uncertain Sunday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP - Indian Peoples Party) played her saviour by demanding the status of political refugee and citizenship for the exiled writer.

In an interview to Karan Thapar, broadcast on CNN-IBN, Nasreen, who has been staying in a guesthouse run by the Rajasthan government since she arrived here Friday night, said that despite the fear of fundamentalists stalking her she will love to live in India.

"It's not safe. But I will love to live in India," Nasreen said. Fundamentalists are everywhere, be it in Bangladesh or in Europe, she said.

"I will not leave India for any other country. I want to return to Calcutta as soon as possible," Nasreen, the author of Lajja (Shame) which has been banned by the Bangladesh government, said in another conversation with NDTV's Barkha Dutt.

She confessed that the last two days have been "traumatic" for her, but she would still like to be in India.

Nasreen has remained confined to the Rajasthan House in the heart of Delhi for the last 36hours. The author was virtually off-limits to the media with security personnel not allowing any outsiders to meet her.

A tight security cordon of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary and Delhi Armed Police was thrown around her following threats to her life. The government has already provided her 'Y' category security.

"The centre has to decide on how long will she stay here. Till the centre's decision, she remains a guest of the Rajasthan government," a state government official told IANS.

She was hurriedly brought to the capital from Jaipur after the All India Milli Council threatened to hold protests if the writer was kept in Rajasthan for long.

India's main opposition BJP that is widely seen as pro-Hindu came to the rescue of the beleagured writer as it made a strong pitch for granting her the status of a political refugee and Indian citizenship.

"Nasreen did not hurt the sentiments of any community, it were characters through which she exposed the plight of women in her novels and it was not her personal views," senior BJP leader and former union minister C. H. Vidyasagar Rao said in Hyderabad on Sunday.

"The centre should consider to give Taslima Indian citizenship, if such a request comes from her," he added.

Nasreen's Indian visa is valid until February.