MONISHA RAJESH || HUFFINGTON POST || JANUARY 2012

Bigotry. Intolerance. Censorship. Not words that you would normally associate with a literature festival, let alone one taking place in what is considered the world’s largest democracy. And yet, over the last six days at the Jaipur Literature Festival in India, they’ve dominated panel discussions, been whispered during readings, and littered furious debates around tea stalls.

Why? Because of a book banned in 1988. In the weeks leading up to the festival, a storm began to brew over the planned appearance of Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses: albeit, a storm in a teacup. One cleric who had no idea that Rushdie was coming, muttered that he had “hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world,” causing a mass leap onto the bigotry bandwagon.

Fanatics soon threatened violence if Rushdie came to Jaipur and police intelligence suggested that two assassins were en route to kill Rushdie — intelligence that Rushdie now suspects was fabricated by the police. These are the same police who can provide security for Oprah Winfrey to speak at the festival, but can’t pull themselves together long enough to protect a writer from their own country. >>READ MORE

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