Rushdie in doubt for India festival after threats

Indian author Salman Rushdie (File photo: June 30,2008)

British author Salman Rushdie’s planned appearance at a literary festival in India was thrown into doubt yesterday due to security concerns caused by protests from influential Muslim clerics.
Rushdie was due to speak at the five-day event that starts on Friday in the city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan, but his name has been dropped from the programme of events.
Festival organisers, who declined to be named, said that Rushie’s advertised appearances had been removed from the programme for security reasons, but that he was still expected to attend.
“He will not be in India on [Friday] January 20 due to a change of schedule. The festival stands by its invitation,” festival producer Sanjoy Roy told AFP, without giving further details.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot told the NDTV news channel yesterday that “Salman Rushdie’s presence does have security implications and we are keeping a close watch and have been in touch with the organisers.
“At the same time we can’t prevent him from coming since he is a PIO [Person of Indian Origin],” Gehlot added, referring to Mumbai-born Rushdie’s status as a permanent visa holder.
Last week, the Darululoom Deoband seminary in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh demanded the government stop Rushdie from entering the country because of his allegedly blasphemous writing about Islam.
The novelist spent a decade in hiding after Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death for passages in his novel “The Satanic Verses”, which was banned in India.
“His books have hurt and insulted Muslims and Islam – how can he be a guest of this country?” Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, the seminary vice chancellor, told AFP.
“We are not going to say anything about our plans if Rushdie comes to India. We are still in talks with the government and we are hopeful it will ban him.”
The seminary, which is one of the world’s most important Islamic universities, is known for its conservative teachings that are thought to have shaped the views of radical Islamist groups such as the Taliban.
Clerics from the seminary have denied trying to whip up religious tension ahead of state elections starting next month in Uttar Pradesh, where nearly 20 percent of voters are Muslims.
Free speech activists condemned attempts to prevent Rushdie from appearing at the festival.
“Politicians need to stand up to these attacks, and provide him with adequate security so he can speak without restriction,” Kavita Srivastava, national secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, told AFP.
“This is not about supporting what Rushdie says, it is about people’s right to hear him and not appeasing one small section of a religious community. That is totally unacceptable,” she said.
The Jaipur Literature Festival, which does not charge for entry, attracts tens of thousands of Indian and overseas book fans every year with crowds able to mix with famous authors in the grounds of an old palace.
Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children”, previously attended the event in 2007 without attracting protests.             

AFP