Taslima Nasrin’s Exile To Homecoming: A Journalist’s First-Hand Account Of Author’s Return To Kolkata

Last Updated:August 02, 2026, 12:27 IST

The tears I saw at Rabindra Sadan were not simply those of an author returning to a city. They represented the end of a journey that had begun with fear, uncertainty and exile

There are stories a journalist covers. And then there are stories that become part of a journalist’s own life. For me, Taslima Nasrin’s return to Kolkata on August 1, 2026 was one such story.

As I sat in the third row of Rabindra Sadan, watching the exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasrin walk onto the stage, I realised I was witnessing the closing of a chapter that had begun 19 years earlier. I could see the tears in her eyes. They were not merely tears of joy. They reflected pain, memory, loss and, above all, the feeling of returning home.

For most people in the auditorium, it was a cultural event. For me, it was history coming full circle.

Nineteen years ago, I was a young reporter with a national television channel. I had covered one of the darkest days in Kolkata’s recent history—the day Taslima Nasrin was forced to leave the city.

That assignment has stayed with me ever since.

THE DAY KOLKATA BURNED

On 22 November 2007, I was returning from Berhampore after covering a programme on Nandigram. Near Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, traffic came to a standstill. I asked my video journalist to find out what had happened. Within minutes, around 10 men surrounded our vehicle.

They demanded that we cover their protest against Nasrin. They warned us that if we refused, they would set our car on fire.

It was one of the most frightening moments of my early career.

We tried to explain that we were journalists and were already on assignment, but they refused to listen. For several tense minutes, it appeared that our vehicle could be attacked. Somehow, we managed to leave safely.

As we entered Kolkata, the city was in turmoil.

Vehicles had been set ablaze. Police personnel had been injured. Roads were deserted except for security forces and protesters. For the first time in my reporting career, I saw the Army deployed to assist the civil administration in restoring order.

The protests were centred on Taslima Nasrin’s book Dwikhandita. The book had earlier been banned by the state government but had subsequently been cleared by the courts. Yet the agitation continued. As reporters, we spent the entire day moving from one flashpoint to another, documenting a city consumed by violence.

THE STORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES

While we were reporting on the streets, conversations with official and political sources suggested that the government was considering its next course of action regarding Nasrin.

Like many young reporters, I believed the administration would protect a writer whose safety had become a matter of public concern.

Instead, multiple sources told us that efforts were underway to persuade her to leave Kolkata. According to those sources, pressure came through various intermediaries, including individuals from business and intellectual circles associated with the then ruling establishment.

Those accounts shaped our understanding of events as they unfolded, even as many aspects remained outside public view.

THE MORNING SHE WAS GONE

The violence continued late into the night. Many of us stayed back in our newsroom because travelling through the city was unsafe. Before sunrise the next morning, news broke that Taslima Nasrin had left Kolkata. We rushed to her apartment on Rowdon Street.

She was already gone.

As far as I can remember, no television crew captured her departure. The apartment was almost empty. One image has remained with me ever since. Her favourite cat was still there.

She had left. The cat had not.

That silent apartment conveyed more than any political statement could.

QUESTIONS THAT NEVER LEFT ME

Kolkata has long celebrated itself as India’s cultural capital—a city of writers, poets and free thought. At the time, the state was led by a Chief Minister who was himself an accomplished author. As a young reporter, I repeatedly asked myself one question: How had a writer reached a point where she had to leave this city under such circumstances?

We asked leaders of the then Left Front government that question. Their responses never fully answered what many journalists—and many citizens—wanted to know.

For me, the episode became one of the defining moments in Bengal’s cultural and political history.

NINETEEN YEARS LATER

On August 1, 2026, I found myself once again reporting on Taslima Nasrin. This time, the story was different. She walked onto the stage. The woman who had once left Kolkata quietly before dawn was now returning openly, welcomed before a packed auditorium.

When I interviewed her for News18, she said: “Today I have returned to Kolkata. It has taken me 19 years to be able to say these words. After this long wait, stepping once again on the soil of Kolkata feels like reclaiming a lost chapter of my life."

During the programme, she was felicitated by the Chief Minister.

As she spoke, emotion overwhelmed her. She thanked the government for providing security but added: “Gratitude is not a contract of loyalty."

She made it clear that her return was not political. It was deeply personal. She reminded the audience that she had committed no crime when she was forced to leave Kolkata in 2007.

She spoke of exile, memory, identity and hope.

One sentence stayed with me:

“I have returned to the city I was once forced to leave. The opening of this door today proves that injustice can last for a long time, but it cannot last forever."

A STORY THAT CAME FULL CIRCLE

Journalists often say they are detached observers. But some stories refuse to remain detached. I was there when Kolkata erupted in violence in 2007. I stood outside the apartment after Taslima Nasrin had left. I spent that day reporting on a city in crisis.

Nineteen years later, I was there again when she returned.

The tears I saw at Rabindra Sadan were not simply those of an author returning to a city. They represented the end of a journey that had begun with fear, uncertainty and exile. As I left the auditorium, I realised I had reported both ends of the same story.

Very few journalists get to witness history completing its own narrative. I was fortunate enough to witness both the exile and the homecoming.

About the Author

Kamalika Sengupta

Kamalika Sengupta is the Editor (East) at CNN-News18 / News18.com, focusing on politics, defence, and women’s issues. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with over 20 years of experience reporting...Read More

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