Taslima controversy spells big bucks for booksellers

Dec 2, 2007, 10:53 GMT

Kolkata, Dec 2 (IANS) The controversy surrounding Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has spelt big bucks for her publishers and booksellers as they are merrily capitalising on the sudden demand for her books.

'There is a huge demand for Taslima Nasreen's biography, 'Dwikhandita' (Split in Two). We have almost exhausted our stock and have ordered for more,' Shibani Mukherjee of People's Book Society, her publisher, said.

Taslima Friday decided to expunge controversial portions from her book 'Dwikhandita' that triggered riots in Kolkata earlier this month and conveyed her decision to her publisher.

'As requested by the author, we will come out with a new edition by withdrawing two pages from the book,' Mukherjee added.

The sudden demand for her books has overwhelmed the leading bookstores in the city, prompting them to place more orders with the publishers.

'The demand for Taslima's book 'Lajja' (Shame), which has an English version, has increased. We are receiving several enquiries everyday,' Malini Dutta, Customer Support Executive of Crossword, a leading bookstore chain, told IANS.

Dutta, however, declined to divulge the total number of the books sold in the past two weeks.

'After the controversy snowballed across the nation, the demand for Taslima Nasreen's books suddenly shot up. The sale of 'Lajja' has gone up remarkably and we are receiving about seven-eight enquiries for the book everyday,' Oxford Book Store Gallery's assistant manager Ram Shankar Saha said.

'Since our store has a small corner for Bengali books, we haven't seen such craze amongst the readers for 'Dwikhandito'. But yes, there are enquiries too,' he told IANS.

The West Bengal government banned Taslima's book 'Dwikhandito' in 2003 for purportedly hurting the sentiments of the minority community. Later, the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), a human rights organisation, moved the court and got the ban lifted in 2005.

'Interestingly, we have seen more number of readers picking up Taslima's books, especially in the past two weeks,' Landmark CEO Gautam Jatia said.

A protest, called by All India Minority Forum, against granting of Indian visa to Bangladeshi firebrand feminist writer Taslim Nasreen turned Kolkata into a scene of flaming vehicles and scampering school children on Nov 21, forcing the deployment of army in the city after nearly 15 years.

A call for a road blockade went out of hand as thousands of frenzied people from central Kolkata's Muslim-inhabited areas unleashed a free-for-all for hours.

Nasreen was first moved from Kolkata to Jaipur last week, a day after violent protests rocked Kolkata over her stay in India.

She was then shifted to New Delhi early this week. The Intelligence Bureau has now kept her in a 'safe house' within a National Security Guards complex in Delhi.

In a delicate balancing act, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured Nasreen a 'shelter' in India, but urged her to 'refrain from activities and expressions' that may hurt the sentiments of Indian people and harm relations with friendly countries.

Mukherjee's statement came amid the politicisation of the issue of the continuing stay of Nasreen in India with the country's chief opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding the status of a political refugee and Indian citizenship for the exiled novelist.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service