Jaipur: Uncertainty prevailed over the fate of proposed visit of controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie to the Pink City to attend Jaipur Literature Festival scheduled to begin here from Janaury 20.
While a number of Muslim outfits including Darul Uloom Deoband and the Opposition BJP Minority Cell protested his proposed visit and threatened to organise aggressive agitation, the Rajasthan government had been keeping a vigil over the situation.
Darul Uloom Deoband demanded that Mr Rushdie be prevented from entering the state capital while BJP minority Cell and organisations like the All India Milli Council and Dr Zakir Hussain Welfare Society threatened that they would not allow the Britain-based writer to attend the programme. “We want that the state government and the event organisers should act in time to stop him, before the situation gets out of control, or we shall take to the roads to see that he does not attend the meet,” one of the protesting outfit’s spokesman said. BJP minority cell general secretary Munawar Khan threatened Mr Rushdie with dire consequences in the event of his visit to Jaipur to attend the festival. Darul Uloom spokesman Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani urged the government to cancel his visa as he had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims in the his novel “Satanic Verses”. (PTI)