While the Jaipur Literature Festival organisers were busy discussing the pros and cons of linking writer Salman Rushdie to the festival audience via video more than six criminal complaints were filed in different courts in Jaipur and Ajmer against Rushdie, and against other authors for reading out from his book The Satanic Verses, which is banned in India. Highly-placed sources, meanwhile, said the government received six threat messages against the author.
Sanjoy Roy, a director of the literature festival, told journalists Monday evening that the session with Salman Rushdie is scheduled for 3.45 pm Tuesday via a video link. Mr Roy said the organisers are in touch with the Jaipur police, having sent a formal note informing them about the session, but that they had not heard anything from the officials yet. The discussion, he said, will be on Midnight’s Children and its adaptation for a film being directed by Deepa Mehta.
Police officials, many of whom have been attending festival sessions, have been telling journalists, off the rec-ord, that the session with Rushdie on Tuesday will not take place. In Jaipur, one of the six complaints was filed by BJP minority cell leader Daulat Khan, against the authors, for hurting sentiments by reading out passages from The Satanic Verses.