Jaipur, January 20
Controversial author Salman Rushdie today cancelled his visit to India to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival, citing threats to his life. He was to address a session on “ Inglish, Amlish, Hinglish: Chutneyfication of English” at the seventh edition of the annual international festival. There is expectation that he might participate on a later date through video conferencing.
In a statement, read out by the organisers, Rushdie said he had been told of intelligence reports from Maharashtra and Rajasthan that assassins from the Mumbai underworld were on their way to Jaipur to ‘eliminate him’. “While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the festival; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience and to my fellow writers. I will, therefore, not travel to Jaipur as planned.”
Festival director, author Namita Gokhale said she was deeply disappointed. Co-director William Dalrymple said, “He is one of India’s greatest writers and, in a more just world, he would have been welcomed by people”.
Several Muslim outfits are learnt to have welcomed the development. The seminary in Deoband, which first protested against his visit this time, described it as a victory of democracy. The Congress denied any role of the government. “It was his personal decision,” said party general secretary Digvijay Singh.
Participants at the festival were clearly unhappy. They were upset at the elaborate, three-tier security put in place for the first time. They also complained about the government succumbing to pressure. Some of them tweeted about their plans to read out passages from ‘The Satanic Verses’, the book by Rushdie that offended Muslims and was banned in India.
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