Taslima Nasreen: The Captive Rebel (Part II)
“Fasir monche uthe jodi ektao dirghoswas na feli? Golay dori porabar por o jodi bhoy na paoar duswahos hoy amar?” [ If, even the gallows of death fail to make me despair? If I dare to stand unsubdued by fear, even as they fix the noose round my neck?] Yes. Banished from her own country, threatened by those she knew as her countrymen, standing at the precipice of death, she dared to boldly declare these lines in the face of her sworn enemies. Yes. A rebel she is – the finest and truest rebel humanity has ever seen. A rebel who dares to defy even death. And who doesn’t fear a fire that burns even death to ashes? So, Taslima Nasreen, threatened by religious fundamentalists had to fee from her own country in 1994. For the next ten years, she moved across foreign countries, the US, France, Sweden and Germany, before she could finally seek residence in Kolkata, India in 2004. She had to wait for six long years before the Indian government finally issued her a visa ...