Lajja : 20th Anniversary Ed.

This title made Taslima Nasrin flee her country, Bangladesh, due to alleged death threats, and live in exile. Written as a response to anti-Hindu riots that erupted in Bangladesh as a result of Babri Masjid disaster in India in 1992, the book was banned in her country.

However, it sold about fifty thousand copies in the first six months soon after publication. It was dedicated to the people of the Indian subcontinent and firmly asserted that the name for religion must be humanism. Based on the Babri Masjid episode in Ayodhya, the story of Lajja revolves around the Dutta family in Bangladesh, which faces the heat of communal hatred that spreads across borders. Sudhamoy, the head of the family strongly believes that his homeland will never let him down, and his wife Kiranmayee stands by him.

Their son, Suranjan, who always believed that nationalism would always be stronger than communalism, will be eventually disappointed. He resorts to communal reactions, which makes his sister Nilanjana curse his indifference. She asks him to take their family to a Muslim friend’s house to escape the wrath of communal chaos.

The novel depicts how violence and disillusionment take over humanism because of communal riots, and how it affects people at individual level.