Has the BJP government hurt the sentiments of Indian Muslims by giving visa to Salman Rushdie to attend the CommonWealth Prize ceremony in New Delhi, India? Taslima Nasreen from Bangladesh is also presently living on an extended stay in India.
Salman Rushdie delighted to be in India, Muslims protest
NEW DELHI, April 14 (AFP) -
Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie on Friday said he hoped his journey to India after a 12-year hiatus would open a new chapter with his home country.
“I hope this long rift between me and India is now over,” Rushdie, who is here to attend the annual Commonwealth Writers Prize, told reporters at the ceremony.
“I never been angry with India. I have had objections to certain political decisions that were taken but that was 11 years ago. I hope we can just turn the page on this relationship,” Rushdie said.
The controversial writer last visited India on August 1987, during the 40th anniversary of India’s independence from British rule in 1947.
“I never thought there would be a 12-year period when I couldn’t come to India and I hope it will never happen again,” he said.
India, home to 120 million Muslims, banned his “Satanic Verses,” viewed by many Muslims as blasphemous, and which resulted in Iran’s late Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a death edict, or “fatwa,” against Rushdie in February 1989.
In 1998, Iran said it would not carry out the fatwa, which, however could not be rescinded. Some Islamic groups continue to threaten the novelist’s life.
“I would like the ban to be lifted but I haven’t come here to do that this time,” Rushdie said of the Indian ban.
“This is not a political trip. I am not seeking any political meetings. I have not been offered any.”
Several hundred Muslims protested near the Indian parliament as word spread of his presence.
The protestors, carrying banners that denounced the granting of a visa to Rushdie as an “abuse of secularism,” burned an effigy of the novelist.
Rushdie reportedly arrived in India one week ago, although government officials have refused to confirm his itinerary.
Rushdie’s latest novel, “The Ground Beneath Her Feet,” is in the running for the annual Commonwealth Writers Prize, due to be awarded at a ceremony in New Delhi later Friday.
New Delhi granted a visa to Rushdie in February, sparking protests from local Muslims, India’s single largest religious minority.
“Today, I have learnt that Salam Rushdie is in India. He is hiding somewhere in the capital as he rightly fears for his life,” said fiery Muslim politician Shoaib Iqbal, who led Friday’s demonstrations.
“The heretic who has insulted Islam and our prophet Mohammad in his book ‘Satanic Verses’ should never have got a visa to India,” Iqbal said, accusing the Hindu nationalist-led government of hurting Muslim sentiments.
Rushdie dismissed the protests.
“People have the right to protest. That is their right. If they don’t like what I write I am sorry but I think what they have been told I wrote is inaccurate. I have no quarrel with Indian Muslims.”
He said he was delighted to be in India.
“It has been wonderful for me to show him (his son, Zafar) the places where he has never been before. It was nice to be back in my grandfather’s house,” in northern hill resort of Shimla.
“Obviously I had been reluctant to tell all of you what I have been doing. I am glad people are interested in what is for me a very moving moment,” Rushdie said.
When asked about what he missed most in India Rushdie replied: “The people.”
“India is a wondeful place but it is the people that are the point,” Rushdie said.
Rushdie said the threats to his life did not prevent him from travelling around India.
[This message has been edited by mohabbat (edited April 14, 2000).]