Rushdie,Rajiv and Intolerant India

P Chidambaram said the ban on Rushdie’s novel was wrong. The ban still stands after 27 years of its imposition. In fact, India was the first country to ban the book. Now this happened during reign of Rajiv Gandhi, the most tolerant regime in the whole world! No protest movement started to oppose this ban. Nobody returned awards!

Mr Rushdie wrote an open letter to Rajiv Gandhi that was published in NY times. The day after the letter was published, Rushdie’s publishers,Viking, received their first death threat. In February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him. In 2012, he was forced to pull out of Jaipur literature festival over threats of violence. In 2013, his planned visit to Kolkata to promote the film based on his novel Midnight’s Children was cancelled for similar reasons (protest by Muslim groups).

Following are some of the quotes from that letter-

.............The book was banned after representations by two or three Muslim politicians, including Syed Shahabuddin and Khurshid Alam Khan, both members of Parliament. These persons, whom I do not hesitate to call extremists, even fundamentalists, have attacked me and my novel while stating that they had no need actually to read it. That the Government should have given in to such figures is profoundly disturbing.

This really is astounding. It is as though, having identified an innocent person as a likely target for assault by muggers or rapists, you were to put that person in jail for protection. This is no way, Mr. Gandhi, for a free society to behave. Clearly, your Government is feeling a little ashamed of itself and, sir, it has much to be ashamed about.

You know, as I know, that Mr. Shahabuddin, Mr. Khurshid Alam Khan and their allies don’t really care about my novel. The real issue is the Muslim vote. I deeply resent my book being used as a political football; what should matter to you more than my resentment is that you come out of this looking not only Philistine and anti-democratic but opportunistic.

Mr. Prime Minister, I can’t bring myself to address finance ministries about literature. In my view, this is now a matter between you and me. I ask you this question: What sort of India do you wish to govern? Is it to be an open or a repressive society?

Your action in the matter of ”The Satanic Verses” will be an important indicator for many people around the world. If you confirm the ban, I’m afraid I, and many others, will have to assume the worst. If, on the other hand, you should admit your Government’s error and move swiftly to correct it, I will be the first to applaud your honorable deed.

This was not Rushdie's first brush with secular and tolerant Gandhis. As per "The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India" by Girja Kumar, even Indira Gandhi went to court due to references in Midnight’s Children to her and her family. She won the case and British court ordered the passages to be removed that were pointed objectionable  by Indira Gandhi.