At the book fair in Bangladesh, a group of fundamentalists targeted writer Shatabdi Bhav over allegations that Sabyasachi Publications had displayed books by exiled author Taslima Nasrin. With the help of the police, Shatabdi was escorted out of the fair. During this incident, he was forced to apologize publicly. Shortly afterward, the stall was temporarily closed. The Bangla Academy authorities stated that the stall was reopened after a brief closure, but a final decision would be made after a task force meeting.
On Monday (February 10) at around 6 PM, the protest at the Sabyasachi stall sparked widespread criticism on social media.
According to eyewitnesses, a group of people dressed in Islamic attire gathered at the Sabyasachi stall upon seeing books by Taslima Nasrin being sold. At that time, writer Shatabdi was present there. A heated argument ensued over the sale of Taslima Nasrin’s books. At one point, when Shatabdi chanted the slogan “Joy Bangla,” the group attempted to assault him. They also demanded that he apologize by holding his ears. Eventually, Shatabdi folded his hands in apology, and the police escorted him away.
Eyewitness Imran Nazir stated, “When the crowd tried to attack the writer, the police intervened and took him outside the book fair. At that moment, Shatabdi apologized to the agitated students. Due to their agitation, the police shut down the Sabyasachi stall.”
Dr. Selim Reza, the convener of the Book Fair Task Force, said, “What happened is very unfortunate. However, no decision has been made yet regarding the closure of the Sabyasachi stall. It was temporarily closed but has now been reopened. The book fair committee and our task force members present there will discuss and make a decision. However, such incidents are unexpected.”
Notably, before this incident, Sabyasachi Publications had already received threats over displaying Taslima Nasrin’s books. According to the publisher of Sabyasachi, Mehran Sanjana, he was instructed to remove the books. In a Facebook post, he wrote, “The person in charge of the fairground from Bangla Academy called me and told me to remove Taslima Nasrin’s books. The officer-in-charge of Shahbagh police station also said the same. I was forced to remove Taslima Nasrin’s book Chumbon.”