Taslima Nasrin’s book launch stopped amid threats

Organisers of the ongoing Kolkata Book Fair on Wednesday stopped the formal launch of seventh part of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin’s autobiography, Nirbasan (Exile). Publishers and Book Sellers’ Guild said it had received calls from two groups — Milli Ittehad Parishad and All India Minority Forum. “They told us that if we went ahead with the book launch, there were chances of untoward incidents taking place at the fair,” said Tridib Chatterjee, secretary of the guild.

A frustrated Nasrin tweeted: Kolkata, a city of progressive! A book release even w/o my presence not (allowed).

The publisher, however, launched the book informally at the stall allotted to it at the fair.