Press Trust of India
KOLKATA, Mar 19: Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who left India for an unknown destination on Wednesday, voiced her bitterness against the Manmohan Singh government accusing it of being no better than "religious fundamentalists."
Talking to reporters from London's Heathrow airport before taking a connecting flight after she left New Delhi on Wednesday morning on a British Airways flight, the 46-year-old author refused to disclose where she was heading saying she did not want to "compromise" on her security.
"If I disclose my destination my security will be compromised. My face has now become recognisable and I could be target of religious fundamentalists," she said.
Taslima, whose India visa was extended for further six months last month, alleged her human rights were infringed in the last four months when she was brought to Delhi after being hounded out from Kolkata.
Taslima said she will not hesitate to discuss what she said was the traumatic experience she allegedly went through during various international seminars lined up in Europe in the next few months.
"I was put under tremendous stress but I could not speak out as I was under their (government) surveillance and could be harassed by them," she said in a choked voice from the British capital.
"The government (Indian) is no better than religious fundamentalists," she said.
Nasreen said she used to call the government safe-house in Delhi where she was put up as the "torture chamber".
"I gradually came to realise that it was the chamber of death instead," Taslima said, adding she was forced to leave India because of "extreme stress" that she went through the last four months.