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RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL
Bulletin # 36
15 April 2000
Editor: Sanal Edamaruku
Address: P.O.Box 9110, New Delhi-110091, India.
Telephone: +91-11-2253255, Fax: +91-11-84539526
E-mail: edamaruku@yahoo.com
SALMAN RUSHDIE IN INDIA
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Salman Rushdie is here in India after a gap of twelve years,
with his son Zafar. "It is fantastic," he said on being asked how it
felt to be back in India. "It has been far too long. I never thought that
it would take so long to come back to the country."
Though Rushdie reached India a week back, it was an inconspicuous arrival. He
has been able to move around quite freely in Delhi, then in Jaipur, Agra and a
couple of days in his Shimla family home.
Though the ministry of external affairs has given Rushdie an open visa last
year, as we have reported earlier in this bulletin, no one had the information
whether he would visit India for the Commonwealth writers' Prize function held
on 14th April at New Delhi. "He doesn't need a visa," the Minister of
State for External Affairs said earlier, "he can come anytime he
wants". And when he came, that became the biggest event for the media.
Rushdie addressed a crowded press conference stealing front pages of all major
Indian newspapers.
Rushdie made his public appearance during the gala ceremony of the Commonwealth
Writers Prize at the Oberoi yesterday night. The prize for the Best Book,
however, went to the South African writer J M Coetzee (Pounds 10,000) for his
book "Disgrace", and the prize for the Best First Book to the Canadian
writer Jeffery
Moore (Pounds 3,000) for "Prisoner of the Red-Rose Chain". Rushdie was
given the prize of Pounds 1,000 for the Best Book from Eurasia Region category
for his
book "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", which he accepted smilingly amidst
thunderous applause.
There was, of course, a protest demonstration outside. Several hundred activists
of the All India Islamic Conference came out from a mosque and started shouting
slogans against the Prime Minister and Home Minister for providing facilities
for the author of "Satanic Verses" in India. India has been the first
country to
ban the Satanic Verses during Rajeev Gandhi's regime and the ban is still
active. The Indian Rationalist Association has been demanding ever since then to
lift
the ban.
Rushdie was not disturbed by the protest demonstration. He said with a smile:
" People have a right to demonstrate. I am appreciative of the fact that
the protests have been conducted in a civilized and peaceful manner".
Rushdie also said that he was not living the life of a fugitive. "If I were
living the life of a fugitive all this time, I would be sick and tired of
it", he said. Rushdie has recently been
travelling around quite a bit, a lot to USA, where he has a home and two sons.
Photograph attached: Salman Rushdie with his son Zafar at a press conference in
Delhi yesterday.
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