Slipping into the election mould, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) on Saturday endorsed the displacement of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen from Kolkata and went a step ahead by warning her that unless she mends her ways she will not find a place “to hide”.

N Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP) and Om Prakash Singh Chautala (RLD), former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah said the writer “should not play with religion.”

Abdullah skirted queries whether his comment was “not an abject surrender to fundamentalist” and said the author had hurt the sentiments of the Muslim community.

Stand on violence

He had heated exchanges with newspersons who wanted him to clarify UNPA’s stand on violence in Kolkata by “a section of fanatics”.

While reeling off ways to build a “healthy democratic society” in India, the J&K leader who switched sides from NDA to UNPA, sought an apology from Taslima. He kept silent when asked whether the UNPA was not allowing itself to be dictated by “ fundamentalist forces”.

“I am  not a Maulvi but a Muslim,” was his reply to a question why the UNPA was pandering to “talibanised elements” in the country.