Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: At the end of the long post, Taslima Nasrin’s message was, ‘I hope there will be an impartial investigation into the allegations. The administration will ensure that people can sell and buy books without any hindrance. People will not have to guard the book stalls with books in hand. In the city that loves books so much, the book stalls should be safe.’ News of the vandalism of the bookstores by the Left in front of the puja mandap in various parts of the state including Kolkata has come to the fore. Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin has now opened up about this. She made it clear that she is ‘hurt’ by the vandalism of the bookstores. She appealed on social media, ‘May the bookstores be safe.’ Taslima Nasrin wrote on Facebook today, ‘I was upset to read the news of the vandalism of the bookstores by the Left in Kolkata during Puja. I read about bringing a bulldozer to remove stalls in Jadavpur. There have also been allegations of books being thrown into the canal in Baguiati.’ Criticizing the Left’s politics, Taslima wrote, ‘There is no need to agree with all the views of the Left. There is ample scope to criticize their politics. I am very critical of their politics. But they have the right to sell books, people certainly have the right to buy and read those books. No one has to be a Leftist to accept this right. It is understood how much I respect the freedom of expression of others if I dislike that opinion.’
At the same time, she wrote, ‘If there is a problem with the permission or location of a stall, you can talk to the organizers. Arrangements can also be made to keep pedestrians moving normally. If there are rules, they can be applied equally to everyone. Can it be acceptable to stop someone because of their political affiliation, intimidate them, or destroy their books?’
At the end of her long post, her message was, ‘I hope there will be an impartial investigation into the allegations. The administration will ensure that people can sell and buy books without any hindrance. People will not have to guard the book stalls with books in their hands. In a city that loves books so much, the book stalls should be safe in that city.' On the other hand, BJP MLA Ritesh Tiwari, taking a dig at the Left's book stalls, said, "If someone thinks that by breaking the book stalls, they will end an ideology, then they are childish. If that book stall had not been broken, no one would have known that the Left had set up a book stall. But I don't know where it was or who did it. I have two or three book stalls there too. The children were jumping around. I say, leave them. Who looks after their books? They sit there all year round. Even if they read so many books, sometimes there is zero and sometimes one. Don't keep these books. What's the point? I want them to sell more books. They will sell books, the more people who read their books, the more they will boycott them."