Latif Siddique to stay in India until situation right to return home

Abdul Latif Siddique says he is worried about his party and government even though he has been dropped from the Cabinet.

Now in Kolkata, the former telecoms minister told journalists in Kolkata that he will stay in India until 'time is right for him to return home'.

Siddique got the boot from the Sheikh Hasina government after his comments decrying the practice of Hajj and Tabligh during a recent tour of the US.

The comments provoked a furore across Bangladesh with the Opposition and the Islamist groups even calling for his hanging.

But though Siddique said he regretted causing embarrassment to his party and government, he stuck to his guns on the comments, saying, "I did no wrong".

"As a free man in a democratic country with a secular government in power, I said what I have always felt."

But Siddique said the comments were 'grossly blown out of context by vested interests'.

"They were made within a close circle and reflected a personal opinion."

The Indian foreign ministry officials said Siddique was in India on a regular visa and was possibly seeking medical treatment.

But they were not sure how long he would stay.

His location was not disclosed for security reasons.

Islamic radicals in Kolkata resorted to large-scale violence to drive out controversial author Taslima Nasreen from Kolkata and stopped Salman Rushdie from entering the city on an invitation from a literary festival.

The Mamata Banerjee government heeded advice by senior Muslim clerics and Islamist radicals, some of them in her party as well, in keeping out both Nasreen and Rushdie though both wanted to be in Kolkata.

Now she is under huge pressure from the Indian government to allow central agencies to unveil the Islamist radical network blown up by the Burdwan bomb explosions.