Support pours in for Taslima Nasreen after Modi govt cancels resident permit

Taslima Nasreen tweeted on Thursday that the Narendra Modi government has refused to extend her resident permit and has instead given her a temporary tourist visa.And it is not only Nasreen who is shocked at the visa not renewed. Pleas to Narendra Modi to give her resident permit back have poured in from several quarters. Now, an editorial on The Times of India pointed out that several Hindu migrants from Bangladesh have been given citizenship in India, where as Nasreen’s permit has been cancelled. [caption id=“attachment_1645393” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Taslima Nasreen.[/caption] Chandan Nandy writes on The Times of India, “Whatever the rationale of the BJP-led government’s stand on Nasreen, it flies in the face of the Madhya Pradesh government’s decision to grant citizenship to nearly 5,500 Bangladeshi Hindus who illegally immigrated to different parts of that state on the ground that they were victims of religious persecution in their country of origin. These Hindus have been provided ration cards and employment.” In fact Niti Central, a website considered to be a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and right-wing politics has published an editorial making a strong case for the government to reconsider its decision. The editorial says, “Taslima Nasreen is a victim of religious persecution by Islamists. And, the secular fundamentalists support the persecution. The so-called secular parties are against her because she comes in the way of their greed for votes. It’s time to prove them all wrong.” Not just Niti Central several others took to Twitter, demanding the government rethinks its decision and grant Nasreen residency. Following are a few tweets on the same.

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Nasreen has had a rather unfortunate stint with state governments and the Centre for a while. After she had to leave Kolkata in 2007, following a violent bout of protests over his work Dwikhandito, she had found support in Bengal’s primary opposition back then, Mamata Banerjee. However, after Banerjee came to power in 2011, her government didn’t do much to reinstate Nasreen in Kolkata. In fact, during a chapter of a the Kolkata Book Fair in 2012, a Muslim body took to raucous protests to prevent a book penned by Nasreen from being launched in the fair. Intellectuals severely criticised the government’s inaction and later the book was released after the protest blew over.