Salman Rushdie skips Jaipur Literature Festival

Jaipur: Celebrated author Salman Rushdie will not attend the Jaipur Literature Festival, which began in Rajasthan's capital on Friday. 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.

Jaipur Literature Festival organiser Sanjoy Roy made the announcement saying that Rushdie decided not to attend as there is a threat to his life in India.

The celebrated author has decided not to attend as there is a threat to his life in India.

"There are intelligence inputs from Rajasthan and Maharashtra that paid assassins are on their way so he wants to be responsible to himself, people at the festival and everyone," said Roy.

Influential Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband had demanded that Rushdie should not be allowed into India over his book The Satanic Verses published more than 20 years ago. There was also a fatwa that anybody willing to hurl a shoe at Rushdie would be paid Rs 1 lakh.

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