Poor Salman Rushdie continues to be (ab)used as a crowd-(dis)pleasing political red flag: the Jaipur Literature Festival runs 20-24 January and he's been invited -- but, of course, someone decided that, since it's election time, they should make a big issue and stink about this.
As India Today reports:
As India Today reports:
India's top Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Monday opposed Salman Rushdie's visit to India and asked the government not to allow him to travel for a literary festival as the author had hurt the sentiments of Muslims the world over.In The Telegraph Rasheed Kidwai and Amit Roy report Poll resurrects Rushdie row -- Clerics and minister ask Centre to cancel author's visa -- and point out that:
Rushdie had visited the Pink City literary event in January 2007, which was also an election year in Uttar Pradesh.Given the kind of nonsense the candidates for the American Republican Party presidential nomination spout daily, it's hard to be too critical of this particular silliness; still, one hopes that it is treated simply as very desperate fringe election-rhetoric and that everyone gets on with more important things.