Jaipur Lit Fest: After Islamist groups, event faces threat from RSS, BJP

Jaipur: After a few Islamist groups threatened the organisers of Jaipur Literature Festival against allowing the four authors who had read out passages from Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses at the event in 2012, sources in the Rajasthan police said that members of the BJP and the RSS in the state were opposing the participation in the event by seven Pakistani authors.

The police, however, assured that the festival will happen and security will be provided to all those who are attending.

Meanwhile, the police said that the festival organisers had informed them that no material related to Rushdie is scheduled during the event. This was in response to the statement issued by the Islamist groups that sought a ban on the four authors - Amitava Kumar, Ruchir Joshi, Jeet Thayil and Hari Kunzru - for reading out passages from The Satanic Verses.

The police said that the BJP and the RSS were opposing the participation of seven authors from Pakistan in the event.

The Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 will be held from January 24 to 28.

Also See

• Will not get bullied by fringe elements: Jaipur Lit Fest organiser Sanjoy Roy

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)