Rushdie Episode: Congress murdered constitution to placate fanatics
by Hari Om on 27 Jan 2012 9 Comments

World acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie, who hails from Mumbai and holds an NRI passport, was first barred by the Congress-led UPA Government and Congress Government in Rajasthan from visiting India to participate in the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF). Then, to ensure the purge of the writer’s views from being disseminated at the same venue, they went further and cancelled Rushdie’s planned video address to the literary event.


Salman Rushdie was supposed to reach Jaipur on January 20, but Congress hatched a plot and forced Rushdie not to leave London for India. The Rajasthan Government told him there was a threat to his life as some underworld don had engaged three supari killers to liquidate him. The Rajasthan Government claimed that the Maharashtra intelligence agency had informed it about this conspiracy. Since the Government of Maharashtra was not kept in the loop regarding this insidious scheme, it immediately denied that such a plot existed or that it was the source of the ‘intelligence’. Unfazed by the exposé, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot shamelessly insisted that his government provided correct information to Rushdie.


Earlier, Ashok Gehlot had met with Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and reportedly urged the latter to prevent Rushdie from attending the Literary Festival. The conspiracy clicked and Rushdie cancelled his Jaipur visit, saying he was doing so for the safety of the participants in the Literary Festival.


Upset, the organizers of the Literary Festival urged Rushdie to address the Festival through video. He agreed and was to address the gathering at 3.45 p.m. on 24 Jan. But the Rajasthan Government dithered over permission for even this exchange, and kept the organizers guessing almost the whole day. News channels sometimes suggested there would be a video address at the scheduled time and sometimes said the video address had been cancelled. Then around 2 p.m. the Rajasthan Home Secretary announced that the video address would take place, but it was not to be.


All this was happening at a time when a handful of extremists belonging to the Mili Council were raising a hue and cry outside the venue of Literary Festival. Reports clearly suggest that the Rajasthan Police watched the activities of the Mili extremists as a mute spectator. So much so, these extremists breached the three-layer security arrangement and entered the Literary Festival Hall to disrupt the programme and threaten the organizers. The Mili extremists did all they wanted and the Congress Government also did all it could to send a clear message to the radical Islamists that it shared their view that the physical participation of Rushdie in, or his video address to the Literary Festival, would outrage the Muslim community and injure its religious sensitivities; hence it was with them and what they stood for.


The Congress slept with the extremists in the same bed, notwithstanding the fact that Rushdie and the organizers had made it loud and clear that Rushdie would speak only on Midnight’s Children and not on his banned Satanic Verses. The Congress government said that Rushdie could not participate in the Festival because of security concerns, and that his video address could not take place because the owner (Ram Pratap Singh) of the property (Diggi Palace) where the Festival was organized had refused permission for video conferencing. All humbug.


Nobody buys the Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni’s argument that the Government of India did not stall Rushdie’s visit. Nor would any Indian, who believes in people’s democracy and genuine secularism, agree with the Hindu-basher Digvijay Singh’s assertion that the Congress did nothing in Jaipur to influence the voting patron in UP or to placate and woo Muslim voters.           


Nobody in India or the world ever expected that the Indian National Congress would stoop so low to placate radical Islamists because of the upcoming assembly elections in crucial Uttar Pradesh. But the Congress leadership in New Delhi, the Congress-led UPA at the Centre, and the Congress party and Government  in Rajasthan stooped so low and demonstrated their perverted thinking, bringing shame to India and to the Indian political system and lowering the nation’s prestige in the eyes of the international community.


The world is laughing at India and her sham Indian democracy. That a Central and State Government together could not protect one man on a two-day visit to the country is beyond belief. Even the notoriously secular Indian literary class is spitting on the Congress and its governments in Rajasthan and Delhi. Both conspired against the Indian Constitution just to placate the radical Islamists and capture Muslim votes in UP. They subverted the Indian Constitution and denied the organizers their fundamental right to free speech, right of expression and right to assembly.


Reflecting on the murder of democracy, the disappointed and outraged Rushdie said the cancellation of his video address was “awful”. “Threat of violence by Muslim groups stifled free speech today. In a true democracy all get to speak, not just the ones making threats. India might have progressed in economic terms, but it has become difficult for the believers in democracy to live in this country. The extremely intolerant elements and the political parties, including the Congress party, sleep in the same bed. This is unfortunate. India, like China, has become a totalitarian state, while the Muslim countries like Egypt, Libya and Turkey have become liberal. The Congress and similar other organizations prevented, opposed, and stalled his visit to capture Muslim votes in UP,” he said.


Sanjoy Roy, one of the organizers of the Literary Festival, remarked: “This is not a decision that we can support, we have been pushed to the wall. It is unfortunate that we are being bullied again and we had to step down…We had no other way out but to listen to save the people here, our children and everyone here. Some organizations have threatened violence. This is unfortunate but necessary to avoid violence. It is a fairly idiotic situation. We are once again stepping down from the fight for freedom of expression. We have been pushed to the wall again.”


As for the BJP, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley accused the Central Government of “pushing the country to pre-censorship era by preventing Rushdie from addressing the audience at JLF through video conference”. Referring to what he termed as “false” reports about security threats against Rushdie, Jaitley said that, “Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan Government in connivance with Central Government concocted the intelligence report and misled public over the writer's visit”. He said the “Central Government bowed before the religious fundamentalists” and this “will not be accepted”.


He added: “Earlier, in Shah Bano case, the Congress government (of Rajiv Gandhi) bowed before the fundamentalists and paid the price. Now, again this government is bowing before them, which is shameful…When any government bows to the demands of fundamentalists and hardliners, it sends out a bad message for the government and the political administration.”


Nobody would disagree with Rushdie, Roy, Jaitley and the outraged literary circles. Congress indeed subverted democracy, subverted secularism and subverted the Indian Constitution for petty vote-bank politics. January 24 will be remembered as a black day in the history of India. One commentator rightly said that it was not Roy who wept while stepping down, but it was the Indian Constitution and the nation which wept and cursed the Congress and other pseudo-secular formations.



The author is former Chair Professor, Maharaja Gulab Singh Chair, University of Jammu, Jammu, & former member Indian Council of Historical Research
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Professor sahib,since you are at it so how about shedding some light on the following too:In the nineties and onwards M.F. Husain finds himself the target of Hindutva ire for his “vulgar” paintings of Hindu deities. Several exhibitions of his paintings are attacked. Dies abroad in self-imposed exile after Centre does nothing to ensure his safe return. In 1996 Violent protests, including by Hindutva activists and feminists, mar the Miss World event in Bangalore.In 2003 Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune vandalised by NCP-based Sambhaji Brigade. Reason: ORI helped writer James Laine with translations of old manuscripts for his book Shivaji, Hindu King in Islamic India. Shrikant Bahulkar, a scholar who assisted Laine, is also attacked.In 2006 Shiv Sena threatens to disrupt cricket matches of ICC tournament if Pakistan is allowed to play in India. In 1991, Sena dug up Wankhede pitch ahead of an Indo-Pak match. Similar vandalism was carried out in 1999 at Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla.In 2007 Hindutva activists attack Chandramohan, a student artist at MS University, Baroda, for “vulgar” depiction of gods. Earlier in Jan, Gujarat theatres refuse to screen Parzania, a film on the ’02 pogrom. Aamir’s Fanaa meets similar fate.In 2010 Indian-born Canadian writer Rohinton Mistry's Such a Long Journey dropped by Bombay University after Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya alleges the book hurt Marathi sentiments by insulting his grandfather, Bal Thackeray.In 2011 Protests by Sangh parivar among students and faculty prompt Delhi varsity to drop A.K. Ramanujan's essay Three Hundred Ramayanas... from history syllabus.We all would be waiting for your comments Om sahib.
observer
January 27, 2012
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For all the people who were still unable to read Rusdie's "works" here is a short video explaining what he wrote in his book,and decide for yourself : http://youtu.be/BJjX6NW0ttc :
observer
January 27, 2012
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Observer -- Rushdie was coming to speak ONLY on his first novel - Midnight's Children. OK. He has come to India many times before also. I have personally found SATANIC VERSES vulgar and written that it was a paid performance by the West in the build up to attack the Muslim world, which is now obvious. BUT this was a literary gathering and it was no time for such vulgar display of intolerance by a SECULAR STATE. If Delhi and Jaipur can't protect one man for a two day meeting, the govts should pack up and go. Muslims meanwhile must introspect --- this behaviour is leading them up a blind alley.
EDITOR
January 27, 2012
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@Observer--Observer Sahib: Why do u suppress the violent genocidal historical record of ur ideological ilk which is graphically detailed on thousands of google and utube sites--for example: persecution of Hindus (Wikipedia), hindu genocide; what happened to Hindu temples; jihad watch (chronology of global jihadi violence); history of jihad; sword of islam; faithfreedom.org; atlas shrugs (by Pamela Geller) -also her book: stop islamization of America; utube video: the third jihad -by American Muslim Juhdi Jasser; Waled Phares book- Future Jihad. Look at what the jihadis are doing to alleged kaffirs right now--in Pak, Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, S, Sudan. Historical and contemporary events contradict ur claims for ur ideology. No amount of repetition and convoluted reasoning can erase facts.
liebuster
January 27, 2012
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@observer - M F Hussain stayed away from India for the fear of having to appear in courts. Indian government never stopped him or advised him not to arrive in India. Since you pointed so many incidents, add the Nawab of Chennai stopping an exhibition on aurangazeb in chennai with the help of the police. Dropping the book the sylabus is not equivalent to death threats. choppoing of hand and putting a price on someone's head. If you dont know the difference between legally allowed protests and performance of voilent acts, then God help you.
sat
January 27, 2012
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Congress is now controlled by rabid Christians and Muslims who are Hindu haters. They have no concern for India and its constitution.
Since the Khilafat days it had been a protagonist of predatory Islam and by concocting the story of threat to Rushdie's life and preventing his visit, it is just preparing the country for another holocaust and disintegration of India. All nationalist elements must stand together.
Kailash P Bordia
January 27, 2012
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Observer, Hussain was a motivated communal painter, otherwise he would have guts to paint your prophet. This is not to deny his greatness as a painter. But art should not be used to hurt sentiments. However, there was no bar on him to enter India and fight the court cases, but it seems the Muslim world does not believe in the majesty of law and Constitution.Miss world event is too small to comment. NCP is supposed to be a secular party so what is the argument ? You must be privy to the intense anti-India sentiment in Pakistan that has prevailed for the last 65 years, so it is natural that there were and are anti-Pakistan sentiments in India too. Chandramohan's painting was really vulgar so no tears need be shed if that painting was withdrawn. Theater owners in Gujarat are not Gujarat govt.'s paid servants, it was their decision not to show Perzania when almost every day in the last decade we have seen filthy propaganda about what happened there in 2002; Lalu Yadav even tried to white-wash the crime of burning alive of 58 innocent men, women and children, by a farce of a commission of enquiry. I am surprised to know that the Bombay University and the Maharashtra Govt is so scared of Bal Thackeray. Ramanujan's essay on three hundred Ramayanas is not banned anywhere in India. Do you want to dictate to Delhi University what they should include or exclude in their syllabus? Finally, Rushdie has been visiting India after his Satanic Verses was banned. He has also addressed the Literature Festival in the past few years. So the argument of the writer here is the communal politics of the Congress party on the eve of UP elections that encourages the worst type of communalists in the largely secular Indian Muslim community.
Krish
January 27, 2012
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I kind of agree with what the Editor said earlier about Rushdie's caliber and his motives behind the silly book he wrote and i also think that Muslims should not go out of control on these silly little things,as a matter of they should have let him come and they could have had a face to face dialogue with him about his true motives behind what he wrote.One thing Muslims should understand that no matter what "others" say or do nothing can change Qur'an or Islam as this is the word of God Almighty and He has promised to take care of it till the day of judgement.Even the "burn a Qur'an day"should not have become what it became eventually,although it hurts the sentiments but still one should not go about agitating like an out of control mob.
observer
January 28, 2012
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You are right.Congress is stooping so low this time that it may not be able to get up any more! Wait for election results in UP.
Many have started countering pro Rushdie movement with anti Hussein movement of yore.Hussein's entry was never opposed by the government.People opposed to Hussein's dirty pictures had every right to oppose.Courts were free to judge.It was Hussein who chose to stay away.
In case of Rushdie, a political party in power is doing all these to garner few Muslim votes in a State election.That is terrible.
For once, we need to thank Observer from Pakistan for his last comment dated 28th January, where he agrees that Rushdie should have been allowed.
His description of Gujarat riots as" pogrom" is wrong.1250 muslims died along with 250 Hindus from police bullets.Riots happened because 59 Hindus were burnt alive in a train by muslim mobs.A "pogrom" involves organised killing of millions.
Jitendra Desai
January 28, 2012
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