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Finally, Rushdie-Le Carré End Fatwa Feud

POSTED BY Buzz ON Nov 12, 2012 AT 20:15 IST , Edited At: Nov 12, 2012 20:15 IST

Finally, 15 years after the literary feud between Salman Rushdie and John Le Carré erupted in the letters pages of the Guardian in 1997, the latter has told the London Times "that their mutual loathing has finally come to an end."

Back in 1997, Rushdie had accused Le Carré of promoting censorship and had gone on to characterise him as a "dunce" and a " pompous ass.'' Christopher Hitchens too had jumped in the exchange and said that Mr Le Carré 's conduct reminded him " that of a man who, having relieved himself in his own hat, makes haste to clamp the brimming chapeau on his head."

"Two rabid ayatollahs could not have done a better job. But will the friendship last?" Mr Le Carré had countered, pointing out that he was more concerned about saving lives than about Mr Rushdie's royalties, and that Mr Rushdie was ''self-canonizing'' and ''arrogant.''

Mr Rushdie was allowed the last word by the newspaper, and had gone on to say about Mr Le Carré: It's true I did call him a pompous ass, which I thought pretty mild in the circumstances. "Ignorant" and "semi-literate" are dunces' caps he has skilfully fitted on his own head.

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POSTED BY Buzz ON Nov 12, 2012 AT 20:15 IST, Edited At: Nov 12, 2012 20:15 IST

Behind The Scenes

POSTED BY Buzz ON Oct 22, 2012 AT 03:59 IST , Edited At: Oct 22, 2012 03:59 IST

Ashok Malik in the Asian Age:

In April 1992, Mushirul Hasan, then pro-vice chancellor of Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia, gave an interview to Sunday magazine in which he called for lifting the ban on Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. “The banning of the book”, Mr Hasan said, “or any book for that matter, rarely helps. On the contrary, it lends the book greater notoriety”. The interview caused a storm. Students and teachers at Jamia protested. Mr Hasan was prevented from coming to work. When he attempted to do so after a prolonged period, he was beaten up. In reality, he had fallen victim to a Congress clique that wanted to “recapture” Jamia from academics allegedly affiliated to the CPI(M).

One of the Congress instigators was Mr Khurshid, then deputy minister for commerce. In The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India, Girija Kumar writes: “(Khurshid) made the extraordinarily outrageous statement that the liberals like Prof Mushirul Hasan ‘should be willing to pay the price of a liberal’”. A CPI(M) statement of the time was categorical: “It is highly unfortunate that certain minority fundamentalist forces are being aided and abetted by certain Congress (I) leaders, including some ministers like Salman Khurshid”.

In his book, Kumar wonders why Sunday “interviewed a number of Muslim politicians and intellectuals on the subject of The Satanic Verses”. There was “much speculation about the reasons… to revive the dormant controversy”. In his report on the Jamia Milia incidents, Justice M.M. Ismail, who otherwise criticised Mr Hasan, too considered the Sunday article, Kumar writes, “as motivated, and ‘an attempt at deliberate adventure’”. Was the article calculated to provoke a reaction? Only the person who wrote it can clarify. It carried the by-line of Louise Fernandes.

Read the full article at the Asian Age: Khurshid & MaCaulay

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POSTED BY Buzz ON Oct 22, 2012 AT 03:59 IST, Edited At: Oct 22, 2012 03:59 IST

'Thin-Skinned, Paranoid Reaction To A Piece Of Garbage'

POSTED BY Buzz ON Sep 15, 2012 AT 16:16 IST , Edited At: Sep 15, 2012 16:16 IST

listen to ‘Rushdie: Video protests 'an ugly reaction'’ on Audioboo

Salman Rushdie to BBC Radio 4 Today on the recent protests in the Muslim world against a video clip posted on Youtube:

...means a number of things. In the case of Satanic Verses, it meant that we stood up for what needed to be defended and we managed to defend it. In a larger sense, it's more problematic. The events surrounding the Satanic Verses created a climate of fear that has not dissipated that makes it harder for books -- not even books critical of Islam -- books, anything about Islam, to be published.

This idea of respect, which is a code word for fear is something we have to overcome And I very much felt that what happened to me was a harbinger of many things that followed. And I think you can draw a direct line of connection from the entire Satanic Verses controversy to the 9/11 attacks, to the 7/7 attacks in England to what's happening today across the Muslim world -- this extraordinary thin-skinned, paranoid reaction to a piece of garbage, which any rational person would say, yes, that is a piece of garbage and we can ignore it...

Today presenter James Naughtie: You mean the film?

Salman Rushdie: ....this video or clip from an alleged film which may or may not exist. Any reasonable person would say, yes, that's crap, it's an ugly crap, and we should just dismiss it as unimportant and proceed with our day. But the idea that you react to that by holding an entire nation and its diplomatic representatives responsible, when they weren't remotely aware of, is ugly and wrong.

I think what we have to do is to insist -- all of us, all of us -- that the culture of this country is one of open discourse and the point about open discourse is that people will constantly say things you don't like. But if you can't defend the right of people to say things you don't like, then you don't believe in free speech. And often in the free speech lobby you find yourself defending things you detest. But you know there is no trick to defend stuff you agree with or stuff that particularly doesn't get up your nose. It's when somebody does something that you really despise and loathe, when somebody says something like that, that's when you discover if you believe in free speech.

And I think we do believe in free speech and maybe we need to stand up for it more clearly.

I think there is certain confusion. I think what happened in Libya -- the attack on the embassy, the killing of the ambassador -- may not have been related to this idiotic video but may have been a pre-planned Salafi attack, an indication of this is that the flag that was put out on the embassy in Libya is the flag that is very frequently used by Al-Qaeda. I think that's a different thing. I think that today is Friday and today across the Muslim world there is this absurdly hysterical protest about a piece of garbage that really needs to be named as such. And I think the Muslim world needs to learn that to react every single time to pathetic, deliberate provocation -- not even impressive provocation -- in this way, to believe that in the face of this minor, little pinprick that it is ok to attack property, to threaten people, maybe even take life, that is not acceptable. It is not acceptable, it is an ugly reaction and it needs to be named as ugly.

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POSTED BY Buzz ON Sep 15, 2012 AT 16:16 IST, Edited At: Sep 15, 2012 16:16 IST

Cartoon Row Gets Uglier

POSTED BY Buzz ON May 12, 2012 AT 23:33 IST , Edited At: May 12, 2012 23:33 IST

1949: The above cartoon is originally published on 28 August 1949 in Shankar's Weekly

2006: It is included in an NCERT Textbook for Class XI, Indian Constitution at Work which was being taught without any change or controversy since then

2012 April: A controversy is raked up over the cartoon

2012 May 11: There is ruckus in Parliament. HRD minister Kapil Sibal "apologises" for the cartoon, calling it "objectionable" and says orders have been issued to withdraw it and stop distribution of these books. Mr Sibal goes on to say that the government will also examine whether any criminal offence was made out against those who drew or included the cartoon and also that there were many other "objectionable cartoons" of political leaders and that his ministry had decided to constitute a Committee of experts to look into cases of all such objectionable cartoons and remove them.

2012 May 11: Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar, Chief Advisers for all the Political Science textbooks of the NCERT from class IX to XII, resign to allow the "independent review process" pointing out "that the short, heated and not very well informed debate in the Parliament did not do justice to the responsibility that a democratic society has towards it future generations." They add: "While deferring to the supremacy of the Parliament we think it is our duty to dissent."

2012 May 12: The Pune campus office of Prof Suhas Palshikar is attacked and ransacked. A Republican Panther of India spokesman claims responsibility for the attack, saying the cartoon amounted to an "insult" to the Dalit icon.

Yogendra Yadav sums up the outrage of the nation: "For someone who has taught me Ambedkar, for him to be attacked in the name of Ambedkar...Nothing can be more farcical, tragic and sad then this."

Some reactions on Twitter:

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POSTED BY Buzz ON May 12, 2012 AT 23:33 IST, Edited At: May 12, 2012 23:33 IST

Hullabaloo Over Satanic Verses

POSTED BY Sundeep ON Mar 09, 2012 AT 18:30 IST , Edited At: Mar 09, 2012 18:30 IST

"Hullabaloo Over Satanic Verses" was made by Gita Sahgal for the documentary series 'Bandung File' in 1989. Commissioned by Channel Four. Via Salil Tripathi on Facebook

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POSTED BY Sundeep ON Mar 09, 2012 AT 18:30 IST, Edited At: Mar 09, 2012 18:30 IST

And Now The Fundoos Target Taslima

POSTED BY Buzz ON Feb 01, 2012 AT 23:29 IST , Edited At: Feb 02, 2012 03:29 IST

In a throwback to the Salman Rushdie row in Jaipur, the official release of the seventh part of controversial author Taslima Nasreen's book Nirbasan (Exile) at the Kolkata Book Fair was cancelled today following protests by religious fundamentalists.

But People's Book Society (PBS), the publishers of the book, remained unfazed and ignored the protests and went ahead with the launch near its stall outside the official venue, earlier fixed by the Publishers and Booksellers' Guild, the Fair organisers.

Read on here

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POSTED BY Buzz ON Feb 01, 2012 AT 23:29 IST, Edited At: Feb 02, 2012 03:29 IST

If I Were Honest...

POSTED BY Buzz ON Jan 25, 2012 AT 20:39 IST , Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 20:39 IST

At the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Amitava Kumar had read small passages from The Satanic Verses, along with Hari Kunzru, as a mark of protest against Salman Rushdie not being allowed to participate. Following which, he was advised to leave the festival. He shares a series of tweets that he says he, like Gibreel Farishta in the banned book, dreamed he had written:

I had to leave India to be safe. A realization filled with surpassing loss. #JLF

But did I need to leave India to be brave? The truth was that I was afraid. #JLF

As in countless films, when the man pleads with his killer, “I have small children.” #JLF

...

I read from “The Satanic Verses” because it was, in that time and place, a bold and imaginative act. #JLF

If I were honest, that would be the only claim I submit to the Indian authorities in my defense. #JLF

Read the full piece at NYT's IndiaInk

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POSTED BY Buzz ON Jan 25, 2012 AT 20:39 IST, Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 20:39 IST

'A Black Farce'

POSTED BY Sundeep ON Jan 24, 2012 AT 23:55 IST , Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 03:55 IST

This will come as no newsflash to anyone who followed the story. Let's not put too fine a point on it: there was craven capitulation at Jaipur. Again.

After much plucking of flower petals about "will he-won't he" attend, the organisers finally pushed forward Rampratap Singh Diggi, owner of the Diggi palace, where the Jaipur Literary Festival was being held, to make an announcement:

“I have taken a decision not to allow the video link to take place on the advice of the Rajasthan police. There are lots of people who are averse to this video link. They are threatening violence. This is unfortunate. This is to safeguard you, my family, my children …”

Some of the immediate reactions are best reproduced from Twitter:

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POSTED BY Sundeep ON Jan 24, 2012 AT 23:55 IST, Edited At: Jan 25, 2012 03:55 IST

'The Four Corners Of The Law'

POSTED BY Sundeep ON Jan 23, 2012 AT 23:59 IST , Edited At: Jan 24, 2012 06:12 IST

After the Fab Four (before they became the Fab Five) read out passages from the Satanic Verses on Jan 21 in protest against the way Salman Rushdie had been prevented from participating in Jaipur Lit Fest, the organisers had come up with the following statement:

This press release is being issued on behalf of the organizers of the Jaipur Literature Festival. It has come to their attention that certain delegates acted in a manner during their sessions today which were without the prior knowledge or consent of the organizers. Any views expressed or actions taken by these delegates are in no manner endorsed by the Jaipur Literature Festival. Any comments made by the delegates reflect their personal, individual views and are not endorsed by the Festival or attributable to its organizers or anyone acting on their behalf. The Festival organizers are fully committed to ensuring compliance of all prevailing laws and will continue to offer their fullest cooperation to prevent any legal violation of any kind. Any action by any delegate or anyone else involved with the Festival that in any manner falls foul of the law will not be tolerated and all necessary, consequential action will be taken. Our endeavor has always been to provide a platform to foster an exchange of ideas and the love of literature, strictly within the four corners of the law. We remain committed to this objective.

It was received with widespread consternation and many wondered about who could been responsible for something so craven.

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POSTED BY Sundeep ON Jan 23, 2012 AT 23:59 IST, Edited At: Jan 24, 2012 06:12 IST

Murmurs In The Land Of Chup

POSTED BY Sundeep ON Jan 20, 2012 AT 19:14 IST , Edited At: Jan 20, 2012 19:14 IST

First the statement from Salman Rushdie today:

For the last several days I have made no public comment about my proposed trip to the Jaipur Literary Festival at the request of the local authorities in Rajasthan, hoping that they would put in place such precautions as might be necessary to allow me to come and address the Festival audience in circumstances that were comfortable and safe for all.

I have now been informed by intelligence sources in Maharashtra and Rajasthan that paid assassins from the Mumbai underworld may be on their way to Jaipur to "eliminate" me. While I have some doubts about the accuracy of this intelligence, it would be irresponsible of me to come to the Festival in such circumstances; irresponsible to my family, to the festival audience, and to my fellow writers. I will therefore not travel to Jaipur as planned.

I hope, however, to be able to participate by video link, at a time to be announced soon. Believe me, I am sorry not to be there in person.

***