Govt issues ultimatum to Taslima

This time it is not the Marxists but the UPA government that has decided that controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen cannot return to her adopted city of Kolkata.

Moreover, Nasreen has been told that if she wants to live in Delhi, she will not be allowed to take part in any public functions.

Speaking exclusively to NDTV's Managing Editor Barkha Dutt, Taslima Nasreen said that the decision had been communicated officially to her by a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Nasreen also claimed that her security was cited as the reason for the Centre's decision.

The controversial author, who has already withdrawn parts of her writing considered offensive to certain Muslim groups, has been in hiding for the past month.

Breaking down on the telephone, she claimed that she was being made to live under house arrest.

''I appeal to the government to change its mind,'' she said.

Nasreen also asserted that she will leave India if she is refrained from returning to Kolkata.

The author has been in a government safe house since November and has courted trouble over her perceived anti-Islamic writings.

Meanwhile, the CPM, which had sent Taslima off to Jaipur last month, washed its hands off her, saying that this was between Taslima and the government.

''It is between Taslima and the Central government and we have nothing to do with this,'' said Shyamal Chakravarthy, Leader, CPM.

The Congress party too reiterated its earlier stand that no one who is allowed to stay in India can hurt the sentiments of the people