Exiled Bangladeshi author, on her first Kolkata visit in nearly two decades, calls for UCC across India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, while addressing the backlash over poet Joy Goswami’s stage exit.
Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen renewed her decades-long campaign for a Uniform Civil Code on Sunday, telling reporters in Kolkata that such legislation was vital to curbing discrimination against women across South Asia.
“I have been fighting for the UCC for the past 40 years.. Bangladesh, Pakistan and India need Uniform Civil Code,” Nasreen said, arguing that equal laws for all citizens would address gender-based inequities. Her comments follow the West Bengal government’s formation of a high-level committee to review a draft state UCC bill, set up given the legislation’s wide scope and complexity.
Turning to Bangladesh, Nasreen noted that Hindu women there lack inheritance rights to their father’s property, calling a uniform code necessary to secure equal rights for them.
The 63-year-old author, back in Kolkata after nearly 19 years having left in 2007 amid protests over her book Dwikhandito , also addressed a controversy from her felicitation ceremony a day earlier. Poet Joy Goswami was forced off the stage after loud objections from a section of the audience when Nasreen invited him to speak. She said both she and Goswami were “insulted,” and called the audience’s reaction contradictory given her own speech on free expression. She plans to visit Goswami at his residence.
Despite the incident, Nasreen expressed continued faith in Kolkata as a city of progressive, democratic values. Comparing the Left Front, Trinamool Congress, and current governments in the state, she credited the present administration for allowing her return, saying she preferred to celebrate that outcome rather than dwell on political differences.
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