Saturday, March 19 2005 11:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kolkata: Controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen is thinking of appealing to Congress President Sonia Gandhi for grant of Indian citizenship.

"I will wait this month," Taslima, who faxed an appeal to the Union Home Ministry a month ago for Indian citizenship, said.

"I will in all probability write to Sonia next month," she said, adding that she was once more making a 'humane' appeal to the Centre to grant her citizenship so that she could settle down in Bengal and continue her literary pursuits.

"I am not seeking political asylum. I am only making a humane appeal to the Centre to grant me citizenship under the Citizenship Act," Taslima who has been in exile for ten years, clarified.

She said that under the act a person who has contributed in the fields of art, literature, science, philosophy could be granted Indian citizenship.

Stating that she had not received any response to her appeal to the Centre, she said, "I have no rapport or friendship with any senior Government functionary or political leader (to get a feedback)."

She recalled that she had written to Sonia from abroad for grant of a tourist visa to visit India in the past. "After writing to her I got my visa after three months," she said.

"If writing a personal letter to Sonia helps in getting a positive response to my humane appeal I will do so," Taslima, against whom death threats were issued by fundamentalist in her country in 1994 for blasphemy, said.

Making an impassioned plea to the Government, she said, "If I am not allowed to live in India, I will possibly be able to settle elsewhere. But I will not be able to live there as a writer.

"I have never been involved in any act which is detrimental to the interest of India. I have never been involved in politics. I only believe in freely expressing my opinion in a democratic country," the 2004 UNESCO Award for promotion of tolerance recipient, said.

Stating that she wanted to live peacefully where the people spoke her own language and which formed the backdrop of her writings, Taslima said she was debarred from returning to Bangladesh.

She said that inspite of being an established writer; her only wish was to live in India because of love for the country.

Taslima, who has also requested for three-month extension of her tourist visa in February, said she could stay in Kolkata till she received a reply from the Government, either on citizenship or visa extension.