The Taslima Nasreen issue acquired a new dimension on Monday, with the Congress claiming that the West Bengal government had objected to extension of her visa, which was over-ruled by the Centre.
It also claimed that the Centre was completely in the dark on Taslima being moved from one place to another -- from
Kolkata to Jaipur and then to Delhi.
All India Congress Committee spokesman Abhishek Singhvi hit back at the Bharatiya Janata Party and also appeared critical of the Left Front government in West Bengal, saying, "Nobody has the right in this country to take her here and there without the Centre's permission."
Steering clear of questions on whether the Congress or the Central government agreed with the views of the
controversial Bangladesh writer, Singhvi said it is not important whether the government agreed or disagreed with the
content of her views.
"Agreement or disagreement with the content of views has nothing to do with the granting or denial of permission to stay in the country," he said.
Singhvi said when the Centre was examining the request to extend Taslima's visa, the West Bengal government had raised some "legitimate objections" that the Union government later over-ruled and granted her permission to stay on.
He said there are set rules for granting such visas and cited the example of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.
"Such people have to observe certain conditionalities, such as they cannot participate in political activities and should not
cause strains in our relations with any country," Singhvi said.
