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Salman Rushdie Silenced Again…with the Triumph of Bigotry

Kaustav Kundu| Jaipur| 25th January, 2012

"Free speech is stifled..."

Back in the 1990s author Salman Rushdie wrote ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ dealing with ideas such as ‘free speech’ and ‘multiculturalism’. And on 24th January, 2012, furious over not being able to address the Jaipur Literature Festival via a satellite link from a London studio, Salman Rushdie tweeted that free speech was stifled. Ending the uncertainty over Salman Rushdie's 'virtual' presence at the Jaipur Literature Festival, the owner of the venue denied permission to the planned video address of the author on Tuesday afternoon (around 3.45 pm), saying the matter was a serious security concern.

Ram Pratap Singh, the owner of Diggi Palace, said the Rajasthan police had advised him to cancel the video link, to be hosted by a television channel and aired at the literature festival venue. “There are many opposed to the video link, some of them are present at the venue. They are marching towards us and can cause violence. I don't want any damage to property … This is unfortunate but necessary to avoid harm to the property, to all of you, to my children and all the youngsters who are here,” Singh said.

The decision to call off the video address came after Muslim organisations told organisers that “even seeing Rushdie's face would be intolerable”. After their meeting with organisers, the protesters also offered namaz at the venue.

An emotional Sanjoy Roy, one of the organisers, said: “After three weeks of an unfolding -- fairly idiotic -- situation, we have to step down from the fight for freedom of expression, the freedom to write, the freedom to tell our stories. Many organisations have come to us and threatened violence. It is unfortunate we have been bullied and have to step down.”

Roy said the police had told them if they wanted to go ahead with the programme, adequate security would be provided. "We are very very sad ... we feel hurt, disgraced," he added.

After the video address was cancelled, the organisers went ahead with a panel discussion with Javed Akthar, Tarun Tejpal and Ashok Vajpayee. In fact, the literary community reacted with anger at the cancellation of the video conference. Dubbing the controversy over Rushdie as "dubious", author Kiran Nagarkar said, "Salman Rushdie by now must be so fed up with the way things are carried on." Echoing the views of many, India-born British author Faroukh Dhondy told a television channel that the issue had “become a political football.”

The cancellation of the event sparked angry reactions on Twitter. "It's official - we have buckled. No Salman Rushdie video-link. India officially proves to the world that it lacks freedom of speech," tweeted author Shobhaa De. "Why is the Rajasthan government scared of Salman Rushdie? Even just a video Rushdie from far away? Shame on the chief minister," columnist Tavleen Singh tweeted. Author-publisher Tarun Tejpal wrote: "It's a triumph of bigotry but the battle against this will go on."

"Awful," Rushdie himself tweeted hours after organizers called off the video address. "Threat of violence by Muslim groups stifled free speech today. In a true democracy all get to speak, not just the ones making threats," he said. He also re-tweeted the terming of the entire episode as a "black farce". Simultaneously, Rushdie slammed the central and Rajasthan governments, saying the buck stops with it for the "awful" situation and questioned the commitment of Congress over the issue. The controversial India-born author also hit out at the Muslim groups opposed to him and wondered whether India was moving towards totalitarianism like China by allowing extremist groups to dictate terms.

In an interview to NDTV, Rushdie said that he felt a "fool" for having been deterred from visiting the festival. "The threat of assassination was either exaggerated or fabricated," Rushdie told NDTV. "The threat that did exist was the threat to the festival grounds, of the sort that we've seen today. And I think for that you have to blame, obviously, the Muslim groups that were so unscrupulous, and whose idea of free speech is that they're the only ones entitled to it." He also asserted that he would come to India whenever his busy schedule permits without allowing "these religious gangsters and their cronies in the government to stop me" and asked the government to "deal with it".

Earlier, festival organisers were hopeful that the video session with the controversial author would take place as planned. Sanjoy Roy told reporters that the video session was expected to last for about an hour and it would be according to the law of the land. However, according to sources, the government had asked organisers to ensure there was no reference to the 'Satanic Verses' during the video conference.

The Rushdie session – Midnight's Child – was planned for 3.45 pm through a video conference when the India-born author was to discuss his childhood, his work, problems faced in the past years and the adaptation of his novel ‘Midnight's Children’ into a film. Rushdie had pulled out of the event citing death threats. "We are going ahead with the link at 3.45 pm," Roy had said.

The 65-year-old author's 'Satanic Verses' has been banned in India for allegedly hurting sentiments of the Muslim community. The blasphemous book cast a shadow on the festival when four authors read out passages from it leading to complaints against them and in courts in Jaipur and Ajmer. On the complaints filed against some authors, Roy said, "We had an inquiry from the police and we have given them our version of what happened on January 20 when some authors read out excerpts of Rushdie's book.''

Roy also said that the Rajasthan government had never asked for an undertaking: "At no point did the government say to us they would not give security or that Rushdie should not come."

Asked if the organisers had given any advisory to Rushdie for the session, he said, "We have not given anybody any advisory. We have told everybody that it will be within the laws of the country". "The session will not necessarily focus on readings of any of his work that has been banned in this country," the festival organiser said.

However, prior to the cancellation of the video address, festival organizer William Dalrymple reportedly received a death threat. Meanwhile, the Congress Party, the government of Rajasthan and the central government have all faced criticism for caving to pressure from extremists, as the affair gained stature as a possible election issue with Muslim voters in Uttar Pradesh.

Perhaps in a bid to douse that fire, Sheila Dikshit, the Congress Party chief minister of Delhi, announced that the author was welcome to visit India’s capital city, if not Rajasthan.

Similarly, a local NGO invited Rushdie to come to Delhi and read aloud from ‘The Satanic Verses’ alongside the paintings of M.F. Hussain — who lived in exile for many years after Hindu fanatics decided that some of his works were offensive to their gods.

In a parallel development, newspaper editorials and an online petition have questioned the ban on Rushdie’s 1988 novel, the distribution of which was restricted in India after complaints that it insulted the Prophet Muhammad. Legal experts say the “ban” covers only imports of the book, while free speech advocates argue that it should be overturned.

Tuesday (January 24) was the final day of the five-day festival which attracted more than 70,000 visitors, along with leading writers such as Tom Stoppard, Michael Ondaatje, Tiger Mom Amy Chua and David Hare. However, concluding on such a shameful note, the festival has provoked an alarming interrogation: When will the custodians of Indian culture learn to dismantle their hegemony???.....