Salman Rushdie’s visit to the Jaipur Literature festival may be uncertain, but he was already the talking point among authors and government officials ahead of the annual event that kicks off on Friday.
Most participants strongly opposed the ‘engineered protests’ against the author’s visit to the festival. They insisted that Rushdie should be allowed to participate and speak at the event.
“The controversy around Rushdie’s visit should be overlooked. He is a great author,” Tarun Tejpal, Journalist turned author told DNA.
“I am expecting him to participate with me in the session Chutneyfication of English but organisers are not yet decided on dates due to the mounting controversies. Everything depends on his visit, he added. “I have been attending the Jaipur Literature Festival almost every year. It’s a fantastic event,” he said.
Noted actor Kabir Bedi too, is looking forward to meet Rushdie in the event. “It would be quite unfortunate if Rushdie skips his date with the festival. We are all looking forward to see him in this event,” said Kabir Bedi.
Delegates and organisers were of the opinion that Rushdie has come to Jaipur in the past. Then why did the controversies suddenly crop up? “The literature festival is all about freedom of expression and thoughts. We have invited Rushdie to the Jaipur Literature festival and we stand by our invitation. It is up to him now,” said Sanjay Roy, festival producer. Around 250 authors are attending the festival that enters its seventh edition this year. “We don’t want controversy related to a single author take the focus away from the main objective of the event,” Roy said.
The administration and the local police were as clueless about Rushdie’s visit. “We don’t have any information about his visit. If a celebrity of such a stature comes to the city we are generally informed in advance to make suitable security arrangement for them. But as of now we don’t have any official confirmation on his arrival,” Biju George Joseph, additional police commissioner, Jaipur said.
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