Amid controversies looming over the book, `The Satanic Verses and its Author Salman Rushdie, a British Indian, the author enjoys much popularity among his fellow writers. This book is banned by many countries across the nation. Even today, the book becomes a hot topic of discussion between groups of authors chat, across world. It has its own protagonists and the anti too, equally. But at the Jaipur Literature festival, on Sunday, a section of authors demanded immediate lifting of the 23-year old ban on the book.
The author group has submitted a petition to lift the ban on the book, and it claimed that 'The Satanic Verses' "has not incited violence anywhere.”Within India, in the 23 years since the ban, we have witnessed an erosion of respect for freedom of expression, as artists like MF Husain, Chandramuhun Srimantula, Jatin Das, and Balbir Krishan have been intimidated, and works of writers like Rohinton Mistry and AK Ramanujan have been withdrawn because of threats by groups claiming to be offended," the petition further claimed.
Incidentally the author was to visit India to attend the five days Jaipur Literature Festival held at the Diggi Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. But unfortunately for the literary gathering, the author cancelled his journey in the last minute, after the security threats were high, as he was banned by the Muslim Clergy. Over 60,000 people, including 260 authors from across the globe, were expected to gather at the festival that started Friday and ends on Tuesday. The event is Asia's biggest literature festivals, amidst high security owing to the presence of global dignitaries.
Meanwhile on Friday, as per a complaint received by the police, four authors -- Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi -- read out the passages from the book which is banned in several countries across the world including India. Some Muslim organizations, who had opposed Rushdie's visit to the literature fest for authoring this book, had condemned the incident. They also threatened to move court against the authors reading out the passages. (With inputs from the Internet-AarKay)
