Exile (PB)

On 22 November 2007 the city of Kolkata came to a rude screeching halt as a virulent mob of religious fanatics took to the streets. Armed with a fatwa from their ideologues the mob demanded Taslima Nasrin leave the city immediately. While the Kolkata Police allegedly stood watching mere dumb witnesses to such hooliganism a morally intellectually and politically bankrupt Left Front government tottering under the strain of their thirty-year-old backward-looking rule decided to ban her book and drive her out of Kolkata a city she has always considered her second home. Dark provocative and at times surreal Exile is a moving and shocking chronicle of Taslima Nasrins struggles in India over a period of five months set against a rising tide of fundamentalism and intolerance that will resonate powerfully with the present sociopolitical scenario.About the AuthorTaslima Nasrin a secular humanist and human rights activist is known for her powerful writings on women's rights and unflinching criticism of religious fundamentalism despite forced banishment and multiple fatwas calling for her death. She has been living in exile since 1994.