Jaipur:
The Jaipur Literature Festival ended without any participation from writer Salman Rushdie. A video chat scheduled for 3.45 pm was called off by the organizers of the event and the owners of the venue. They said the police had advised them that protesters at the venue and elsewhere in the city could trigger violence.
Mr Rushdie tweeted this evening, "Threat of violence by Muslim groups stifled free speech today. In a true democracy all get to speak, not just the ones making threats." (
Watch his exclusive interview with NDTV's Barkha Dutt)
Expressing regret over a situation that he described as "fairly idiotic", Sanjoy Roy, the main organiser of the festival said, "We are having to step down in a fight for the freedom of expression...this is not a decision that we can support. We have been pushed to the wall." Before breaking down on stage, he explained that "We have been informed that people are inside the venue, sent to disrupt proceedings."
Mr Rushdie's participation via a satellite link from a London studio had been organized to compensate for his exit from the five-day literary event because of security concerns. But by noon today, a smattering of hardliners gathered at the venue, unwilling to tolerate Mr Rushdie's long-distance appearance.
The protesters did not amount to more than a handful. But the police reportedly warned of possible violence at the venue, a heritage property named Diggi Palace. "I have taken the decision not to allow this video link on the advice of the Rajasthan police. A large number of people who are averse to this link who are already in and around the property. They have threatened violence," said the owner, Ram Pratap Singh. He said he felt the need to protect his home, his family and those in the audience.
This morning, Mr Roy had announced, "We have been in constant touch with Mr Rushdie...he will talk about his life, his work and his book Midnight's Children. But I am not in a position to dictate to Mr Rushdie what he wants to talk about."
The literary festival, attended by world-famous authors and personalities including Oprah Winfrey, has over the last few weeks turned into a narrative of whether Mr Rushdie would feature in the event. A few days ago, an Islamic seminary in Uttar Pradesh, the Darul Uloom Deoband, asked the government not to allow Mr Rushdie to visit India.
The writer and the government pointed out that as a Person of Indian Origin, he doesn't need a visa to travel to India. But a faction of Muslim clerics warned that they would stage protests in Jaipur and elsewhere, and the state government seemed unwilling to check them. Mr Rushdie, like the festival's organisers, was then warned of the alleged danger of his visit. He said he was told specifically about "paid assassins" being commissioned by the Mumbai underworld to target him. Later, the writer tweeted that he had been deliberately misled with this information by the Rajasthan police.
The government's weak stand on Mr Rushdie's visit provoked four writers to protest over the weekend by reading excerpts from his banned book, The Satanic Verses, at the festival. At least six complaints have been filed in different courts in cities like Jaipur and Hyderabad against those writers, and Mr Roy, as the organiser of the festival. The police has not registered cases so far against either Mr Roy or those writers - Ruchir Joshi, Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar and Jeet Thayil.
Mr Rushdie has attended the literary festival in the past. He has also made several private trips to India.