File Photo: Author Taslima Nasreen
Controversial author Taslima Nasreen today met Home Minister Rajnath Singh after she was refused a one-year visa by the government and instead given permission to stay in India for two months.
During the 20-minute meeting, Taslima requested the Home Minister that she be allowed to stay in India for a longer period, official sources said.
The 51-year-old writer had applied for a resident permit and the Home Ministry granted her the same type of visa but only for two months beginning August 1.
"I met the Honourable Home Minister Rajnath Singhji this afternoon. Gave him my book 'Wo Andhere Din'. He said,'Aapka Andhere Din Khatam Ho Jayega' (Your dark days will end)," Taslima tweeted after her meeting.
A verification process of Nasreen's visa application has also been initiated by the government and the two-month visa has been given pending a decision on the longer-term visa.
After the verification process is completed, the government will take an appropriate decision, a Home Ministry official said.
The controversial writer from Bangladesh has been living in self exile since 1994 in the wake of death threats by Muslim fundamentalist outfits.
Taslima is now a citizen of Sweden. She has been continuously getting Indian visa since 2004.
She has lived in the US, Europe and India in the last two decades. However, on many occasions she had expressed her wish to live in India permanently, especially in Kolkata.
The writer had to leave Kolkata in 2007 following violent street protests by a section of Muslims against her works.