Bangladeshi Author Taslima Nasreen Stirs Protests The Kolkata Book Fair got its Salman Rushdie moment on Wednesday, thanks to Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. Hours before the formal launch of the seventh part of Ms. Nasreen's autobiography, "Nirbasan" (Exile), the book fair organizers, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, cancelled the event, bowing to threats from Muslim community leaders opposed to the author. Ms. Nasreen's publisher, People's Book Society, had reserved the "AC Hall" for the official launch of the book, which went on sale on Jan. 24 - the first day of the 36th year of the fair. Guild secretary Tridib Chatterjee offered two reasons for the cancellation. First, the hall was not ready, and second, the security worries of Muslim leaders who had met the police in the morning to voice their opposition to the book launch. "We took the decision to cancel the book launch in the larger interests of the people," Mr. Chatterjee told a packed news conference Wednesday evening. We cannot jeopardize the safety and security of thousands of visitors to the book fair. However, unlike her Twitter adversary Mr. Rushdie, Ms. Nasreen can be happy because the book launch did take place, at the publisher's stall instead of the AC Hall. Writer Nabarun Bhattacharya released the book in the presence of invitees and media. Later, a protest rally was filled with supporters of Ms. Nasreen on the fair grounds. "The book has been selling well like all other parts of Nasreen's autobiography that we have published earlier," said publisher Shibani Mukherjee. Ms. Nasreen has been living in exile from Bangladesh since 1994, following death threats from Islamic fundamentalist groups that held her responsible for hurting religious sentiments with her book "Lajja" (Shame). She was living in Kolkata since 2004 before being forced out in 2007 after some sections of the Muslim community protested on Nov. 21, 2007, demanding her ouster. "Nirbasan" is her account of all that happened during this time. The issue did manage to rake up a controversy for the Kolkata Book Fair, which has made no secret of its desire to match Jaipur, which had stolen the thunder from Kolkata by emerging as India's book capital even though Jaipur's book fair is only a few years old. This is also the reason why the Kolkata fair offered a special component this year - Kolkata Literary Meet, similar to the Jaipur Literary Festival. Earlier, Mr. Chatterjee, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild secretary, had stirred controversy by saying he intentionally had the power supply switched off to cut short a news conference of Imran Khan, the Pakistani former cricketer and politician, who was here to attend the literary meet. The organizers later apologized for that.