29 Jan 2012 03:06:06
Salman Rushdie's appearance at the Jaipur literary festival in India is still in doubt, after a controversial Muslim cleric said that the author "should not be allowed to visit India".
The festival's co-director, William Dalrymple, confirmed that Friday's scheduled event would not take place, but did not say whether Rushdie would appear at another festival event.
"His invitation still stands," he said, "but he's not appearing tomorrow in his scheduled slot." Dalrymple was unwilling to discuss the festival's security provisions, but pointed out that "two Indian cabinet ministers are turning up and there is one state visitor – the Queen Mother of Bhutan".
The president of English PEN, Gillian Slovo, called on the Indian government to offer Rushdie adequate protection, so that he could appear at the festival, insisting that the novelist has "every right to visit the country of his birth".
According to English PEN the writer has been under "intense pressure to withdraw" from the festival and Indian officials have urged festival organisers to stop him attending, citing fears for public order.
"The Indian government had earlier said it would not stop Rushdie from attending the festival and it should honour its commitment to freedom of expression," Slovo said.
The row was ignited when the vice-chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, cited Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses, saying that his proposed visit "would be adding salt to the injuries of Muslims. He has hurt our religious sentiments."
The Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution in 1989, setting off a wave of protests around the world with his claim that the novel's portrayal of the prophet Muhammad insulted Islam, and forcing the author into hiding. The novel has been banned in India ever since.
With elections in India's biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, due next month the issue has become highly political. Last week politicians from both the ruling Congress party and the opposition supported the call for Rushdie's visa to be cancelled.
The writer, who is a regular visitor to India and appeared at the Jaipur festival in 2007 amid similar concerns, brushed off the issue, pointing out via Twitter that he doesn't "need a visa".
For Dalrymple the tragedy of the situation is that The Satanic Verses has "never been available in India. Nobody can be offended by it because no one's ever seen a copy." The Deoband seminary has built up its reputation by "close examination of theological texts", he continued, and is now "letting itself down. The Maulana who called for Rushdie to be excluded doesn't speak English."
Dalrymple blamed the row on the "huge and tragic game of Chinese whispers" that has allowed Rushdie to be portrayed in India as a "full-time, professional Islamophobe", instead of a novelist of accomplishment and versatility.
"Rushdie is India's greatest writer in English," he said. "There should be people greeting him with rose petals, not this sort of nonsense."
But the festival will continue with or without Rushdie, he added.
"Salman is a spectacular writer and a personal friend," he said, "but there are 262 other authors turning up, and it's going to be our best ever festival. Everyone is welcome – including any mullah who'd like to come along. We have a soap box corner where they can say anything they like – as long as it's peaceful."
