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Taslima Nasrin returns to Kolkata

Updated 2 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

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2026-07-31 09:19 UTC → 2026-07-31 12:13 UTC · added removed

Taslima Nasrin returns to Kolkata comeback

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, exiled since November 2007 after violent protests over her book memoir *Dwikhandita*, was scheduled to return to landed at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on 1 August 2026. The trip marks her first visit 31 July 2026, ending a 19‑year absence. She said she felt "very good to be back", describing the city in nearly two decades. She will attend visit as a "homecoming" and noting both joy and pain at returning to a city she still calls her own country. A civic reception and literary programme are scheduled for 1 August 2026 at Rabindra Sadan organised Sadan. Organized by Secular Mission, Mission and supported by the Human Rights & Bangladesh Freedom Fighters Foundation and other groups. The West Bengal government has pledged watertight security, and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is expected to be present. Political parties are using Foundation, the event to signal broader shifts: the BJP describes it as evidence of a “new Bengal”, while critics note the historical backdrop of the 2007 incident when army troops were deployed and the then Left Front government ordered her removal. Nasrin posted a photograph on social media expressing joy about the trip and described the return as a chance to reclaim a part of herself taken by exile. will feature Nasrin arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra International Airport on 31 July 2026, saying she felt "very good to be back" reciting poems, discussing fundamentalism, and that Kolkata feels like "my own country". She will appear at the public programme on 1 August, sharing the stage with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Organisers and the state security apparatus are emphasizing the event State police have arranged watertight security. The visit is being presented as a symbolic rebuke to the fundamentalist opposition that forced her out exile and a reaffirmation of freedom of expression. expression, while political parties use it to signal broader shifts in Bengal's cultural and political landscape.

Versions

  1. 2026-07-31 12:13 UTC Taslima Nasrin returns to Kolkata
  2. 2026-07-31 09:19 UTC Taslima Nasrin Kolkata comeback
  3. 2026-07-31 06:34 UTC Taslima Nasrin Kolkata comeback

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