RUSHDIE in the Black Farce

Salman Rushdie, novel 'The Satanic Verses'

The Audience at Jaipur Literature Festival, 2012

More than 10,000 people gathered to celebrate the exquisite ideas and the words at one place - THE JAIPUR LITERATURE FESTIVAL. Everyone was eagerly waiting for Salman Rushdie to Video Conference an interview by the gutsy Barkha Dutt to the studio in London around 3.45pm (IST). A planned videolink conference with Rushdie at the Jaipur Literary Fest #JLF (Twitter) presented the directors with an impossible decision: cause a riot or uphold an imperative principle. The incident got the directors, coordinators and co-operators in a state of momentary shock, when they received a notice by Police to stop the video conference and the Muslim activists who appeared before 1pm in the vicinity to forbade the Rushdie's interview, were the biggest daunt to the crowd present there.

Protesters at Jaipur Literary Fest, 2012

Muslim activists made it clear of boycotting Rushdie's book and banning it therefore in islamic communities as one of the books wrote by Salman Rushdie- "THE SATANIC VERSES" contained offensive statements which besieged the Muslim's sentiments and apparently the Muslim activists at the Jaipur Literary Fest had palpable callousness over Salman Rushdie. The infuriated crowd hauled over the Directors, of the interview that is to be taken by Barkha Dutt. Nor Police, neither government put their foot forward to the protesters and the crowd that might get exacerbated as the consequence, as evidently more than Hindus, government is concerned about their Muslim voters. If the videolink is shown to public, there would be violence and the crowd might aggravate entailing the scuffle. 


Novel, "The Satanic Verses" which was first published in 1988 and therein banned in Iran, Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan and later in India due to blasphemous reference to the Muslim community. After 24 years later in 2012 at the Jaipur literary fest, the author was banned entering his own birth place, India. The clauses in the book which are the gratuitous provocation to Muslim Community had enough of punishment to Salman Rushdie as fatwa was also issued by a leader of Iran and a Muslim Scholar, Shi'a. After the issue of fatwa, Rushdie was police protected by the British Government and later Rushdie avowed that he would not remain under quilts and will stop living in hiding. The Iranian News Agency proclaimed that fatwa would remain permanent, until and unless it is rescinded by the person who first issued it. The leader had since died. 


Rushdie has never been physically assaulted or incurred. Since then, the conciliated verse sometimes grows to gruesome fiascoes and other while it remains buried deep to explode someday to some event. 

People should forget and forgive. Maybe the verses weren't that harmful to become a cause to a dispute, and even if it were... THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, has it all not be taken as offensive. If in India people have their right of speech why could not a person speak to his mind? Perhaps, Rushdie never meant to hurt anybody's sentiments and even if he has, why shall we make him suffer his whole life? SALMAN RUSHDIE shall be liable for the charges for his offensive verses, but we should not punish him his whole life.

Acknowledgement- 

THE BIG STORY (Soumya Bhattacharya), 

Editorial, Sunday hindustan times, New Delhi (dated 29 January, 2012).

The Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie)

Barkha Dutt and Salman Rushdie (via Twitter)

Title credits, "BLACK FARCE" (as Salman Rushdie calls the JLF's entire fiasco in an interview to Barkha Dutt)

Photo Credits-

indiatimes (The Times Of India)