Minutes before Rushdie was to speak, dozens of Muslims started praying in the courtyard of the Diggi Palace.
The video address by The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie at the DSC Jaipur Literary Festival was called off Tuesday as some of the dozens of Muslims gathered outside the venue threatened trouble and even bloodshed if the address by a ‘criminal writer’ went ahead.
"In view of the resentment simmering in the city against Rushdie's (proposed) address, we have told the organisers that they cannot allow the writer to speak via video," Jaipur's Superintendent of Police Vijendra Jhala said.
Minutes before Rushdie was to speak, dozens of Muslims started praying in the courtyard of the Diggi Palace. Some of them warned of consequences if the Rushdie address took place.
"Every mazhab (religion) teaches us to respect god within us, but those who insult god and religion have no business to be here," said a Muslim who did not wish to be named.
"He is a criminal writer as far as Muslims are concerned. He has insulted Prophet Mohammed and there is no way we will let him speak even if he is doing so from abroad. There will be trouble if the speech by Rushdie goes ahead. Muslims are never afraid of dying," he added.
"Salman on screen was an issue. Even seeing his face was intolerable," said Roy quoting the protesters.
Ram Pratap Singh, owner of the venue, said, "I have taken a decision to not allow this video link to go ahead on the advice of the Rajasthan police who are monitoring the situation which is rapidly evolving around us".
"There are large number of people who are averse to this video link and they are actually inside the property. A lot of them have gathered in and around the property...and they have threatened violence" if the video link takes place, he said.
"This is unfortunate but necessary to avoid harm to the property, to all of you, to my children and all the youngsters who are here," he said.
Earlier in the day, the organisers had said that the video address by Rusdhie will take place as scheduled and that there was no need to get permission.
As the video address got cancelled, the organisers went ahead with a panel discussion with Javed Akthar, Tarun Tejpal and Ashok Vajpayee.
Roy said that the police told them that if they wanted to go ahead with the programme, they would provide adequate security. "We are very very sad...we feel hurt, disgraced," he added.
Rushdie's Satanic Verses has been banned in India for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community. The book cast a shadow on the Festival when four authors read out passages from it leading to complaints against them and the organisers in courts in Jaipur and Ajmer.
Rushdie had on Sunday took to Twitter to vent his anger on Rajasthan Police's claims that his visit had some security concerns.
"Rajasthan police invented plot to keep away Rushdie' I've investigated, and believe that I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry," he had tweeted.
Rushdie said he does not know if the false intelligence information was given by Rajasthan police under instructions from someone.
Roy said it was with "extreme regret" that after three weeks of this "unfolding, fairly idiotic" situation that they were forced to "step down" in a fight for freedom of expression, for the freedom to write and for the freedom to tell our stories.
"This is not a decision that we can support, we have been pushed to the wall. Earlier today, a number of organisations came to us and have threatened violence within this venue, to all our guests who have travelled across the world and across the city," he said.
He said police had informed them that there are large crowds gathering in parks across the city marching on to Diggi Palace, where the event is being held.
"After our deliberations with the leaders (protesters) some whom refuse to listen what I or any of my colleagues have to say and for them the very image of Salman on the screen was an issue.
"They said the issue was not about him being here in person but even seeing his face for them on screen was intolerable," he said.
He said there were people within the audience who have been sent in here to disrupt the proceedings.
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