As a gesture of defiance, a panel discussion was held later with writer Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose, journalist Tarun Tejpal, and two members of the Rajasthan Muslim Forum — Salim Engineer, national secretary of the Jamaat-e-Islami, and Mohammed Hasan, an academic and activist.
Tempers ran high during the discussion, and the audience participated fully, with cheers and boos. The panel raised questions about the veracity of the threat of violence, M.F. Husain was recalled and the Constitution invoked — to respect and to firm up to avoid such incidents in future. Mr Engineer said that while he condemned any sort of violence, Rushdie was a “criminal in our eyes” who had abused his freedom of expression. And, he added, since Rushdie “is given to provoking, it was our apprehension that he would read text”. Mr Engineer was asked why not allow Rushdie to come on screen and engage in an intellectual debate with him on what he had written. Mr Engineer didn’t give an answer. But Javed Akhtar did. In a booming voice he read out a sher in response.