Click to play videoJaipur: Amidst reports that the Rajasthan police planned to deny permission to author Salman Rushdie for his video conference on Tuesday at 3:45 PM at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival, festival producer Sanjoy Roy said that he had no information about the whole issue and that they will go ahead with the video-conference as scheduled, till they get any written confirmation from the police.
He said that the festival organisers had, in fact, filed for permission to the video conference.
"The papers are with the police. We are waiting to hear back from them," he said.
He said that he would wait to see in writing, the report about the police mulling denying permission for the video conference.
"I have got no such information. I will wait to see it in writing. We are in talks with the police commissioner," he said.
The Rajasthan Police had earlier said that the permission for Rushdie's video link was "unlikely".
Judicial complaints filed against Rushdie, 4 authors:
Meanwhile, a judicial complaint has been filed in Ajmer court against Rushdie for writing an "offensive" book. Additionally, four judicial complaints have been filed in Jaipur against the four authors who read extracts from 'The Satanic Verses' on Friday.
The complaints demand that FIRs be registered against the authors and the festival organisers for allowing the reading session to go on.
The four authors in question are Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi. The four had earlier been asked by the festival organisers to leave. The organisers said the four had acted of their own will in reading passages from The Satanic Verses.
Festival Director William Dalrymple said, "There was a threat of arrest to the authors. MF Hussain's lawyer advised them to leave. We are in touch with all of them. We didn't know it's an arrestable offence. We support Salman Rushdie but within law."
Human rights activist and People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) member Kavita Srivastava, however, denied that any case had been filed against the four yet.
"People have filed complaints. Cognizance has not been taken. There is no case yet for the investigation to be done. Frankly, no offence was committed and everyone has a right to complain," she said.
Congress, BJP fight it out:
The BJP has accused the Congress of politicising the Salman Rushdie row and playing it to their advantage for the upcoming Assembly elections. However, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said the BJP was a hypocritical party which would not shy away from indulging in "such talks" to disturb the peace and harmony of the nation.
"BJP calling it (the Rushdie row) a communal agenda (of the Congress) is unacceptable. It is the hypocrisy of the BJP. They always indulge in these kinds of talks to disturb harmony," he said.
He added that there were no restrictions on Salman Rushdie for his coming to the country. "The state government has every right within its domain to take all the steps necessary for maintaining law and order and share intelligence inputs with everyone, be it the organiser of the function or the Centre or Salman Rushdie himself for his security."
The Rushdie controversy
65-year-old Salman Rushdie has been under attack by Islamic hardliners for his controversial book "The Satanic Verses", published in 1988, for "alleged blasphemy" against Prophet Mohammed. India was among the first countries to ban the book.
Rushdie has been in India twice since the controversy. His first visit in 2000 to the country of his birth 12 years after "Satanic Verses" was banned created a flutter in the media. The writer was escorted around with unprecedented security.
In 2007, Rushdie attended the festival at Jaipur. The visit came despite protests by some Muslim groups.
Last year, speculative media reports that he had been invited to attend a Kashmiri literary festival, Harud, had whipped up a controversy in Jammu and Kashmir. The festival was eventually called off - though not for this reason alone.
The novel triggered controversy soon after it was published. Muslims the world over protested, some of the protests turning violent. It also invited a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader of Iran. In February, 1989 Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers.
The fatwa was later revoked on September 24, 1998.
Rushdie was expected to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival 2012. However, he called off his visit at the last minute saying there were threats to his life from the underworld.
Rushdie issued a statement through the organisers of the festival saying that he will not be coming to the event.
"Very sad not to be at Jaipur. I was told Bombay mafia don issued weapons to 2 hitmen to "eliminate" me. Will do video link instead. Damn," Rushdie tweeted.
Influential Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband had earlier demanded that Rushdie should not be allowed into India. It even issued a fatwa saying that anybody willing to hurl a shoe at Rushdie would be paid Rs 1 lakh.
(With additional information from agencies)
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