Who wrote the novel 'Lajja'?

"Lajja" ("Shame") is a Bengali novel by the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin, published in 1993.

About the novel:

• It is set in Bangladesh in December 1992, in the days after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, when Hindus in Bangladesh were attacked in communal violence.
• It tells the story of the Duttas, a patriotic Hindu family in Dhaka: the father Sudhamoy, the mother Kironmoyee, the son Suranjan and the daughter Maya, who is abducted.
• The family, which had refused to leave Bangladesh even during Partition and the 1971 war, is shattered by the violence and finally decides to migrate to India.
• The novel criticises religious fundamentalism and the persecution of minorities.
• It was banned in Bangladesh, and Islamic fundamentalist groups issued a "fatwa" against Taslima Nasrin.

About Taslima Nasrin:

• She was born in 1962 in Mymensingh, Bangladesh, and trained as a doctor.
• She has been living in exile since 1994, in Europe, the USA and later India (mainly Kolkata and then New Delhi).
• She received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1994 and the UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence (2004).
• Her other works include the autobiographical series "Amar Meyebela" ("My Girlhood"), "Utal Hawa", "Dwikhandito" and "Ka", and the novel "Phera" ("Return").

Other Bengali women writers:

• Mahasweta Devi: "Hajar Churashir Maa" ("Mother of 1084"), "Aranyer Adhikar"; Jnanpith Award (1996).
• Ashapurna Devi: "Pratham Pratishruti"; the first woman to win the Jnanpith Award (1976).
• Selina Hossain: a Bangladeshi novelist.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Mahasweta Devi wrote "Hajar Churashir Maa".
• ✗Ashapurna Devi wrote "Pratham Pratishruti" and was the first woman to win the Jnanpith Award.
• ✗Selina Hossain is another Bangladeshi novelist.