Taslima Nasrin has reignited debate over censorship and writers’ freedom after Left Front bookstalls were vandalised in West Bengal during Durga Puja. Her account highlights historical book bans, political repression and the importance of defending freedom of expression across party lines.
Bangladesh-origin Swedish author and activist Taslima Nasrin has reignited a debate over censorship, political intolerance and freedom of expression following reports of vandalism at Left Front bookstalls in West Bengal during the recently concluded Durga Puja celebrations. Her remarks have drawn mixed reactions across political lines, bringing historical instances of book bans and the repression of writers back into public discussion.
In a Bengali-language Facebook post on Friday, Nasrin highlighted cases of censorship, imprisonment and exile involving writers under communist governments across different countries. She argued that opposition to book bans and attacks on intellectual freedom should not depend on political affiliation.
“Banning books, burning books, silencing writers — isn’t that in the history of Communists? It is,” Nasrin wrote, outlining incidents involving writers and literary works in Russia, the former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, China, Vietnam and Cuba, among others.
She said censorship had taken different forms, including attacks by political groups, government-imposed prohibitions, imprisonment in labour camps and forced exile. Nasrin added that her list was not exhaustive but said the incidents she cited were documented.
Taslima Nasrin recalls West Bengal book ban
A prominent entry in Nasrin’s list concerned her own controversial work, which she said was banned and confiscated by the Left Front government in West Bengal under then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
According to her account, the government issued an initial notification on November 27, 2003, followed by another on April 30, 2004. She stated that the Calcutta High Court lifted the ban on September 22, 2005.
Nasrin also recalled developments in November 2007, when the political controversy surrounding her presence in West Bengal intensified. She cited a statement attributed to then CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu, who reportedly said that if her presence created problems for peace, she should leave the state. Nasrin said she was subsequently expelled from West Bengal on November 22, 2007.
The recollection has added a personal dimension to her broader argument about censorship and the treatment of writers by political authorities.
Historical examples of censorship and repression
Nasrin began her account with Russian Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who was imprisoned in labour camps and later forced into exile after criticising the Soviet system. She also referred to writers Varlam Shalamov, Osip Mandelstam and Yevgenia Ginzburg, whose lives and works were affected by political repression under Soviet rule.
Among the literary works mentioned were Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We and Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, both associated with the history of censorship in the Soviet Union.
She also cited the cases of Andrei Sinyavsky and Yuli Daniel, who were prosecuted in the Soviet Union over literary works deemed anti-Soviet and sentenced to forced labour. Nasrin argued that repression of writers continued even after Joseph Stalin’s death, challenging the notion that censorship was limited to a single leader or period.
The author further discussed Czech writer Milan Kundera, whose works were banned following the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. She said Kundera lost professional opportunities and eventually moved to France in 1975.
Nasrin also referred to playwright Václav Havel, whose works were restricted under communist rule in Czechoslovakia, including limitations on publication and performances.
China, Vietnam and Cuba feature in the list
Turning to China, Nasrin highlighted Jung Chang’s Wild Swans, a book recounting the experiences of three generations of women against the backdrop of modern Chinese history, including Mao Zedong’s rule and the Cultural Revolution. She stated that the book remains banned in mainland China.
She also recalled the persecution of Chinese intellectuals and political reform advocates, including Liu Xiaobo, who helped develop Charter 08, a manifesto calling for human rights and political reform. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009.
Nasrin described the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, as another period in which books and libraries were targeted by Mao-supported Red Guards in a campaign against what was labelled old culture.
In Vietnam, she cited novelist Duong Thu Huong, whose writing and advocacy for democratic reform and human rights brought her into conflict with the authorities. Nasrin said the writer was expelled from the Communist Party and imprisoned without trial in 1991.
She also mentioned Cuban poet Heberto Padilla, whose poetry collection received an award in 1968 but was subsequently criticised by the organisation responsible for the award as counter-revolutionary.
Nasrin further referred to book burning by sections of the Maoist movement in West Bengal around 1970-71 and alleged attempts to alter or remove historical material from publications in the former Soviet Union. She cited orders to remove pages from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia following the fall of Soviet official Lavrentiy Beria.
Debate over vandalism and freedom of expression
The immediate controversy in West Bengal concerns the vandalism of Left Front bookstalls during Durga Puja. Opposition parties have blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the attacks, while several leaders from the ruling party have also condemned the vandalism.
The allegations concerning responsibility for the incidents remain a matter of political dispute.
Nasrin’s comments have broadened the debate beyond the immediate vandalism controversy, drawing attention to the wider question of whether freedom of expression should be defended consistently, regardless of the political identity of those affected.
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She argued that opposition to book burning, censorship, imprisonment and the forced exile of writers should not depend on party loyalties. Defending freedom of speech, she maintained, means protecting the right to publish and read works even when their ideas are unpopular or politically controversial.
The controversy has once again placed censorship, literary freedom and political accountability at the centre of public discussion in West Bengal, with Nasrin urging people across political divisions to oppose restrictions on intellectual expression.
