Kolkata: Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin expressed her anguish on Sunday, stating that she felt “insulted” by a strong protest from a section of the audience that had forced her friend and eminent Bengali poet Joy Goswami to leave the dais of her civic reception “insulted” on Saturday, following her return to the city after a gap of almost two decades.
Referring to the untoward incident at Rabindra Sadan, Ms Nasrin told the media at Bangla Academy, “I felt bad because it was not only Joy who was insulted but I was insulted also since I had invited him. Moreover, I spoke about freedom of speech in my address. That means all should be allowed to speak, though we can have a difference of opinion.”
She said, “No one should be shut up from speaking out. Were those the same people in the audience who liked my speech but didn’t allow Joy to take the dais? If that’s the case, things turned out to be different. When someone speaks in favour of free speech, she is supported by you but you don’t want to listen to a poet invited by her to speak on the very free speech. So I definitely felt bad.”
The award-winning writer, however, pointed out, “I hope this situation will not repeat because Kolkata is a progressive city where everyone, I think, believes in the right to free speech. All should have free speech despite differences in political opinion. I couldn’t talk to him after the incident but I will visit him today or tomorrow to talk to him.”
A chaos had unfolded in the auditorium when some members, apparently BJP supporters, in the audience demanded Mr Goswami by shouting at him to get down from the dais for his participation in anti-SIR/CAA protests by Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee when she was West Bengal chief minister.
Ms Nasrin, when asked about her perception of three governments in the state, explained, “One of them drove me out from here. Another didn’t allow me to come here. The third has allowed me to come here. So there is an obvious difference among them.”
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