Saturday, January 21, 2012

From today's paper (The Hindu) - some Islamic seminary vice chancellor decided that the presence of Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literary Festival would be anathema and he should be denied a visa. He pointed out he didn't near a visa, but organizers gently caved. The invitation stood, they said, but Rushdie was not coming. For his part Rushdie sent a statement saying that there was credible information that assassins were being sent his way, and that it would be irresponsible to come.
But then this happened: several other participants read from The Satanic Verses, a book India banned even before the Iranian fatwa. Good for them!

[Update:
the "credible information" seems to have been made up by the police!]