Taslima Nasrin returns to Kolkata after 19 years, BJP hails
After 19 years in exile, Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin finally set foot in Kolkata again on July 31.
Forced out in 2007 after the violence that forced her out, Nasrin's six-day visit was celebrated by the BJP-led West Bengal government as a sign of improved law and order.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said, "It is not just the face of the government that has changed in West Bengal, the system too has changed."
Taslima Nasrin backs Uniform Civil Code
Nasrin's homecoming was used by the current government to show they're different from past leaders, whom she says kept her out to please vote banks.
She openly thanked the BJP for making her return possible and didn't hold back on criticizing previous Left Front and Trinamool Congress governments.
Nasrin also spoke up for a Uniform Civil Code and banning madrasas, both big topics for the BJP, turning her visit into a political statement about free expression in Bengal.