Click to play videoNew Delhi: After the late-night drama, there is a sense of quiet in Rajasthan Bhavan. Avoiding the media glare, intelligence bureau officials chose the dead of night to whisk Taslima Nasreen away.
The Bangladeshi author is now protected by the central government under Y category security.
Meanwhile, the Left Front government in West Bengal is frightened that politics over Taslima might erode its minority votebank.
The government has not yet urged Taslima to come back, though they maintain they are not blocking her return.
“The Home Secretary has made a statement saying if Taslima wants to come back to Kolkata, she can. She will be provided all the security that she needs under the law,” says Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Mayor of Kolkata.
But Taslima insisted that the Bengal government never got back to her since she left the city hurriedly on Thursday evening. Taslima told CNN-IBN she didn't leave Kolkata on her own.
“I was forced to leave the city. I want to return home, to Kolkata,” says Taslima.
Indirectly, Taslima has tried telling the Centre and the West Bengal government that appeasing the fundamentalists would serve no purpose.
“If we allow fundamentalists to go unopposed, no society will be safe,” she says.
The road ahead for Taslima seems uncertain, as she shuttles from place to place. And the author who has become a refugee all over again knows the West Bengal government doesn't want her back now.
(With inputs from Vikram Venkateshwaran)
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