Buddhadeb a greater fundamentalist: Mahasweta Devi

Eminent writer Mahasweta Devi has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of being a 'greater fundamentalist' who 'had conspired to throw Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen out of the state' and demanded his resignation.

"Bhattacharjee has said his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi is a fundamentalist, but what is he doing here? He hounded Taslima out of the city to get Muslim votes in the coming Panchayat polls in the state," the Magsaysay award winning writer told a press conference in Kolkata on Wednesday.

"The chief minister is a greater fundamentalist. He hatched a conspiracy to hound her (Taslima) out of the state. He should resign," she charged, demanding that Taslima be allowed to return to Kolkata.

She said she had spoken to Taslima, who is staying at undisclosed destination in Delhi, on Tuesday night.

"She is ill. Proper treatment was not given to her. As a writer, I demand that she be allowed to return to Kolkata," she said flanked by noted Hindi poet Kedar Nath Singh and Bengali poet Joy Goswami.

Virtually accusing Bhattacharjee of organising the violent protests by Muslims on November 21 demanding Taslima's ouster from the metropolis, Mahasweta Devi said the chief minister perhaps thought that all Muslims were fundamentalists, which was not true.

She wanted to know where Taslima was lodged and said writers in Delhi wanted to be by her side. She also asked Booker prize winner writer Arundhati Roy to talk to social activist Medha Patkar on the issue.

"We will take the issue to the international forum," she said, adding the Amnesty International had been informed.

Mahasweta Devi alleged that the UPA government at the Centre was also hand-in-glove with the state government because it took CPI-M's support. She charged the way Taslima was being held was 'inhuman.'