Kolkata, November 26:

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who has been staying under tight security in New Delhi after she was bundled out of Kolkata following riots over her stay in India, today said she would die as a writer unless she could return to the city.

“I am not a rightist. I am rather a leftist and I always have believed in equality of all - men, women, poor and rich. I miss Kolkata and I would die as a writer if I am not allowed to stay there,” Nasreen told the Bengali news channel Choubish Ghanta (24-hour) over phone from New Delhi. “I dream of an equal society where we are all treated in the same way. I write to remove disparity and in support of equality. But (if) my writings have hurt anyone... it is not my deliberate attempt,” she said.

“I have always spoken of equal rights of men and women. I am not a political person and neither do I want to become a currency of political war,” Nasreen said.

“I want to return to Kolkata,” she said. “Bangladesh has closed its doors to me. Now if West Bengal also closes its doors I will be nowhere. I will die without Kolkata. I am a Bengali after all,” Nasreen said.

Nasreen, 45, had been living in Kolkata for years but had to leave the city on Thursday, a day after protests against her stay turned violent. After staying a night in Jaipur, she reached New Delhi on Friday night amid heavy security. Her wish to return to Kolkata, however, has left West Bengal’s ruling Left Front in a quandary.

While the Communists yesterday remained cagey about her return fearing another violent protest by Muslims who are otherwise seen as Left Front supporters, a leading Muslim cleric warned of more violence if she was allowed to come back. “If Taslima comes back, the government will face a lot of problems and there will be more violence and trouble,” warned Nurur Rehman Barkati, the imam of the Tipu Sultan Mosque here.