Ban Rushdie!

Who’s Afraid Of Nobodaddies?

Of a weak-kneed Congress and the manufactured dissent of clerics

Saba Naqvi, Outlook India, January 30, 2012 

The situation is as ridiculous as many of the ironies in his celebrated books. But alas, it is not magic realism, but quite the reality, the furore over Salman Rushdie’s proposed visit to India to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival. To some extent, it’s one of those contrived controversies in a season where no other story is competing for eyeballs.
The mullah brigade has made its usual statements about the writer not being allowed to set foot on Indian soil. The TV channels have a great talking point: there are some themes that can always be debated. For 24 years, ever since Satanic Verses invited the wrath of Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran, and was subsequently banned in many countries, including India, Salman Rushdie is always ready material for controversy.

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What the Moslems or Islamists undertake in India equals protests in the West against their own enemies: in Germany against Sarrazin, in Austria against Right wingers who assemble for a dancing ball, in other EU-countries against this or that person who is outside of the main stream.