I don’t need a visa to visit India, claims Rushdie

Chandigarh, January 10
In the poll season, even a Booker of Bookers award winning author can be used as fodder for political gains. Or, at least an attempt can be made to do so.

It is a different matter that most of those demanding cancellation of Salman Rushdie’s visa for his India visit to participate in the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) may have never read ‘ The Satanic Verses’, the book that has been the cause of over two-decade long controversy, re-ignited this time for a myopic political game.

In 1989, when Ayatollah Khomeini, an Iranian leader, had issued a fatwa ( death sentence) on Rushdie over his controversial book ‘The Satanic Verses’, it was told, even he had not read the book. The fatwa was withdrawn by the government of Iran in 1998, which should have made the issue a forgotten history.

But, in the obscure political landscape of UP, where 17 per cent Muslims form a big vote bank, Deoband chief, Maulana Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani’s demand that Rushdie should be denied visa, received an apt response from the author, who never disappoints his detractors. The writer tweeted, “my Indian visit, for the record, I don’t need a visa.”

The Deoband chief said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to cancel Rushdie’s visa, adding a threat, “In case of no response from the UPA government, the Darul-Uloom Deoband will take appropriate action.” Whatever the appropriate action may be, the producer of JLF, Sanjoy Roy, remained unfazed. He said, “Salman Rushdie has attended several literary events and forums in India in recent years. The JLF provides a space for free speech in India's best democratic traditions, we are a plural society, and it is imperative that we continue to allow avenues for unfettered literary expression.”

Sanjoy has reasons to be confident. He has witnessed the popularity Rushdie enjoys across lines. If only the protesters knew, the same Rushdie had kept his audience glued over couple of hours in the open lawns of Diggi Palace in 2007, where the JLF is organised every year.

Though the protests are also a sad reminder of the fate of Harud, the first ever literature festival planned for Kashmir Valley in September 2011, which had to be cancelled because rumours were spread that Rushdie was going to be a guest.

Rushdie is scheduled to address a literary session, “Midnight`s Children” named after his landmark Man Booker Prize winning 1981 novel, anchored by noted writer Hari Kunzru on Jan 21, he will also participate in a group discussion, “Inglish, Amlish, Hinglish: The Chutneyfication of English”, featuring Rita Kothari, Tarun Tejpal and Ira Pande on Jan 23 at Diggi Palace, Jaipur. 

The recent row

* Deoband chief Maulana Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani on Monday demanded that controversial author Salman Rushdie should be denied visa to visit India for the Jaipur litfest

* The Deoband chief said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to cancel Rushdie's visa. He had warned that in case of no response from the UPA government, the Darul-Uloom Deoband will take appropriate action

Govt unlikely to stop Salman

NEW DELHI: Controversial author Salman Rushdie is unlikely to be stopped by the government from travelling to India as he holds a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card that entitles him to visit the country without visa. "He had travelled to India in the past using PIO card. We have never stopped him. We have no intention to stop any PIO card holder to travel to his or her home country in future either," a source said.