JAIPUR: Author Salman Rushdie would be visiting the DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2012. Brushing aside the controversy to his India trip created by Darul Uloom Deoband's demand that he be denied a visa, Rushdie tweeted that he does not need a visa to visit the country.
Rushdie, who has a British passport, posted on Twitter: "Regarding my Indian visit, for the record, I don't need a visa." The VC of Darul Uloom, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, had said yesterday that the "Indian government should cancel his visa as Rushdie had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past."
Rushdie had earned the wrath of Muslims worldwide due to the alleged blasphemous content in his novel 'The Satanic Verses' published in 1988.
Reacting to the controversy, Sanjoy Roy, managing director of Teamworks Productions, the organizers of the JLF said, "A literary platform like the Jaipur festival provides a space for free speech in India's best democratic traditions. Salman Rushdie has attended several literary events and forums in India in recent years without an incident. This includes his attending the Commonwealth Writers Prize awards in 2000 and the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2007."
He said in plural societies such as ours, it is imperative that we continue to allow avenues for unfettered literary expression.
Rushdie, who has a British passport, posted on Twitter: "Regarding my Indian visit, for the record, I don't need a visa." The VC of Darul Uloom, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, had said yesterday that the "Indian government should cancel his visa as Rushdie had annoyed the religious sentiments of Muslims in the past."
Rushdie had earned the wrath of Muslims worldwide due to the alleged blasphemous content in his novel 'The Satanic Verses' published in 1988.
Reacting to the controversy, Sanjoy Roy, managing director of Teamworks Productions, the organizers of the JLF said, "A literary platform like the Jaipur festival provides a space for free speech in India's best democratic traditions. Salman Rushdie has attended several literary events and forums in India in recent years without an incident. This includes his attending the Commonwealth Writers Prize awards in 2000 and the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2007."
He said in plural societies such as ours, it is imperative that we continue to allow avenues for unfettered literary expression.
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