Agitation against Rushdie’s visit and assembly elections

A controversy was brewing over the scheduled visit of Salman Rushdie, the well-known India-born British novelist, to India. Rushdie was scheduled to visit India to participate in the Jaipur Literate Festival along with a galaxy of other novelists. Darul Uloom Deoband, the Islamic seminary, had demanded that the central government debar the entry of Rushdie, whose novel, The Satanic Verses, outraged the Muslim world resulting in the novel being banned in India in 1988.

With passage of time, the agitated anxiety of the protestors has calmed and Rushdie, who had to remain underground for several years, is leading a normal life at present. He has visited India several times since then and even participated in the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2007, without inviting any protest. Therefore the cause of the present flare-up is little confusing. As it seems that the forthcoming polls in five states, especially in Uttar Pradesh, have something to do with the development. Perhaps the issue has been brought to the forefront keeping in mind the sizeable Muslim population of UP whose voting pattern might tilt the balance of power in the state.

India regardless of being an avowedly secular nation, has respected the religious perspective and popular sentiments. In a multicultural society like ours one must understand the social limit and the legitimate rights inherited therein, it shall not intrude or hurt others’ beliefs and sentiments therewith. Hence banning of satanic verses was not the isolated case, James Laine’s Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India and a famous Marathi play Mee Nathuram Godse Boltai were banned too. Even violent advances were attempted on famous painter M F Husain resulting his last years blighted by lawsuits and attacks for his nude paintings of Hindu divinities. Therefore, the claims that Muslims or Islam being intolerant are futile and unwarranted being ostensibly spread by semi educated journalists and politicians with vested interests, the inconsiderate truth is that “Might is Right” and “Vote Bank Politics” are a reality in India .

But it is also true that legally, there is nothing the government can do to stop Rushdie from visiting, without a visa. Although he is a British citizen, he has a Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card, which gives him the right to travel to India freely. It’s an interesting wrinkle to this latest iteration of the Rushdie-in-India saga. The PIO card was intended as a way for India to cultivate the influential, affluent network of overseas Indians by making it easier for them to visit India and own property. Immigration authorities perhaps never imagined that it would keep the doors open even for those Indians whose views might be unpopular or politically inconvenient.

United Progressive Alliance government is panicky as had already burnt its fingers by mishandling several issues in the recent past and with the elections round the corner shall not dare to stand further by the hallowed tenets of constitution. Apart from that Muslims, who make 18 percent of India's 1 billion-plus population, are a key constituency of India's ruling United Progressive Alliance-led coalition government, and it will be an uphill task for the Indian government to publicly antagonize the community ahead of key state elections this year. On the other hand Rushdie himself has maintained relative silence about the controversy.