Kolkata: If Taslima Nasreen has drawn flak from Muslims for what she calls her "bold" take on fundamentalism, here's another writer from Bangladesh who has dared to script a book saying "Thank you India".

Though the book - 'Contribution of India in the War of Liberation of Bangladesh' - has brought Salam Azad unpleasant moments in the shape of a month-long hiding with a tribal family and questioning by the Bangladesh intelligence agency NSI, the author is braving these "minor odds" to put together an Indian edition to hit the stands soon.

"Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 only because the Indian Government directly supported its cause, Indian soldiers shed their blood and Indian intellectuals campaigned for us... Where is the harm in acknowledging historical truths?" Azad, in Kolkata to participate in the 29th Kolkata Book Fair, said.

Replete with heart-rending stories of the sacrifice of Indian Army personnel and cold statistics painstakingly dug out from Army archives in Delhi, Kolkata and Agartala, Azad also recounts in bold narrative the role of India in shaping up the newly born Republic.

His 10 years of labour behind the book shows - in the casualty list of over 9,856 Indian soldiers killed in the war, pictures of their mutilated bodies besides extensive interviews with retired Indian Generals Sam Manekshaw, J F R Jacob, Jagjit Singh Aurora and freedom fighters of Bangladesh.