Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, now in hiding in Delhi, has decided to remove the parts of her book Dwikhandito that contain disparaging remarks about the Prophet Mohammed, according to her publishers here.
The decision was immediately welcomed by a jittery CPI(M), which had sided with the Muslim groups objecting to her presence here after a street protest turned parts of the city into a battleground and forced the government to call out the army.
Shibani Mukherjee of People’s Book Society, Taslima’s publishers, told reporters Friday morning that Taslima had asked for the offending pages to be removed.
“She has asked for the pages numbered 49, 50 and 51 to be removed. We will not recall the existing stock of books but the pages will be omitted in the fresh editions,” said Mukherjee.
Hasim Abdul Halim, the Speaker of the Assembly, welcomed Taslima’s decision.
“We congratulate the decision. She had not withdrawn it earlier although the book was banned by the state government,” he said.
The book was banned in 2003, but the high court had lifted the ban two years later.
“Then there was violence in Kolkata and she had to leave the city and is now in Delhi under the protection of the Union government,” Halim said.
Taslima’s decision is believed to have been prompted by a gentle word of advice from Union external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who had said Tuesday that the author was free to stay in India provided she refrained from hurting sentiments.
The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which had been one of the critics, said the author is free to return to the state.
“This is a good step and we are happy that good sense has prevailed. If she had taken this step before, then a lot of conflict could have been avoided,” said Siddiqullah Chowdhury, general secretary of the body.
Dwikhandito, the third in the series of her five autobiographical novels, had evoked strong protests from Muslim groups on November 21. A protest rally turned into a series of street fights with the police, and a jittery CPI(M) state secretary, Biman Bose, asked her to leave Kolkata.
She was smuggled out of the city and dumped in Rajasthan on an unsuspecting government, and then moved to Delhi.
Md Selim, CPI(M) member of Parliament, said Taslima had never been a controversial person for the party.
“She is a media creation, but I have heard that she has withdrawn the controversial parts of the book,” Selim said.
“Whether she will return to Kolkata or not, that is a matter for the government of India,” Selim said.
