Exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen returned to Kolkata on Friday after nearly 19 years, describing the visit as an emotional homecoming to a city she still considers her own.

Arriving at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Nasreen greeted those waiting to receive her with folded hands and said, 'I am feeling very good to be back.'

Her visit comes ahead of an anti-fundamentalism literary programme at Rabindra Sadan on Saturday, where she is expected to recite poetry.

The event has acquired political significance under West Bengal's new BJP government, with Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and noted author Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay expected to attend.

Speaking ahead of her visit, Nasreen said returning to Kolkata felt like coming back to 'my own country'.

'I feel as though I am returning to my own country. Bengal has never been divided in my heart by a border or a barbed-wire fence. The door to the eastern part of Bengal remains closed to me, so for now, this part of Bengal is my home,' she had said.

Nasreen said she was returning with both joy and pain, recalling that Kolkata had given her a home, readers, friends and a sense of belonging before she was forced to leave in November 2007 following violent protests over her writings.

Her return marks her first visit to the city since that departure, reviving one of West Bengal's most debated political and cultural chapters.

After fleeing Bangladesh in 1994 following threats over her novel 'Lajja', Nasreen settled in Kolkata in 2004 before leaving three years later amid protests over her memoir 'Dwikhandito'.

She thanked the organisers and the West Bengal government for facilitating her visit and providing security, while reiterating that freedom of expression must remain a fundamental right regardless of which party is in power.

Although conceived as a literary gathering, Saturday's event has reignited discussions on free speech, secularism and religious fundamentalism, making Nasreen's return both a cultural and political moment nearly two decades after her departure.