New Delhi

Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen returned to Kolkata on Friday after nearly 19 years, describing the visit as deeply emotional and saying she still considers the city her home.

"I feel wonderful to be back," Nasreen said as she arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, greeting those who had gathered to welcome her with folded hands. This marks her first visit to the city since November 2007.

Nasreen was forced to leave Kolkata in 2007 following violent protests over her writings. Since her exile from Bangladesh, she has often referred to Kolkata as her "second home."

During her visit, she is scheduled to participate in a literary event at Rabindra Sadan on Saturday, where she will speak against religious fundamentalism and recite her poetry.

The programme is expected to be attended by several prominent personalities, including West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and noted Bengali author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. While the event has been billed as a literary gathering, it has also attracted political attention amid ongoing debates over freedom of expression, secularism, and religious sensitivities following the BJP's rise to power in West Bengal.

Speaking before her departure for Kolkata, Nasreen said the visit felt like a homecoming.

"I feel as though I am returning to my own country. In my heart, Bengal has never been divided by borders or barbed wire. The doors of East Bengal (Bangladesh) remain closed to me, so this part of Bengal is my home," she said.

She added that she was carrying "both joy and sorrow" with her, recalling how Kolkata had once given her a home, friends, readers, and acceptance, before circumstances eventually forced her to leave.

Nasreen said her return represents more than a personal journey. According to her, it symbolises the return of a voice that religious extremists had sought to silence. She also expressed gratitude to the organisers and the West Bengal government for facilitating her visit and ensuring her security, while emphasizing that a writer's freedom of expression should remain a fundamental right, irrespective of the political ideology of the government in power.

Nasreen was forced to flee Bangladesh in 1994 after receiving death threats over her novel Lajja. She settled in Kolkata in 2004, but in 2007, protests erupted over portions of her autobiography Dwikhandito, with sections of the Muslim community demanding action against the book.

The autobiography had earlier been banned by the Left Front government in 2003. As demonstrations intensified, the Army was deployed in parts of Kolkata to restore order. The then government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee subsequently asked Nasreen to leave the city.

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She later lived in Jaipur, Delhi, and several countries abroad, but repeatedly expressed her longing to return to Kolkata. Nearly two decades later, her visit is being viewed as a significant symbolic moment in the broader discourse on freedom of expression, secularism, and the political landscape of West Bengal.