Rushdie ban is pure pandering to muslim vote bank

by truthbetold Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:35 pm

Congress in its eagerness to corner few extra muslim votes went to obvious extremes to block Rushdie's entry into the nation. Instead of promising Rushdie of full protection, it used to manufactured lies to dissuade Rushdie from coming. Mumbai police and Delhi police have clarified that they did not send any info to Rajasthan police about any threat.

Following that shameful behaviour, rajasthan police has signalled that it will also seek to arrest writers who read from Rushdie's satanic verses. How low can these people go to get few extra votes.

Earlier they messed the protection given Bangladesh writer Taslim and now botched Rushdie's visit. It is a shame that India calls itself a democracy. India is a low to medium level democracy with low esteem for human dignity and freedom.

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:50 pm

here's the funny part. neither the indian muslims who rant against satanic verses, nor the hindu nationalists who find that this a lovely and convenient opportunity to demonize indian muslims have read the book. i wish both parties would. it's an amazing piece of literature.

by charvaka Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:24 pm

This whole story is another sad commentary on how lightly the authorities in India take freedom of expression. What are they going to do next? Block websites that have the Satanic Verses available? Banning books is absolutely distasteful, and prosecuting people for reading aloud from a book is medieval behavior.

by truthbetold Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:47 am

Avg muslim Indian is not likely to be concerned about Rushdie. There may be few self styled religious leaders who raise their voices against Rushdie. Govt encourages these voices by making freedom of expression a political issue. GOI should show a little backbone and stand up for atleast a few core principles. Vandals will backoff when top political leaders show strength.

It is disappointing to see India continuing to show this type opportunistic behaviour repeatedly.

by Guest Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:34 am

hilarious ruchir joshi is spot-on about the "ban" and what it did to rushdie and his career:

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/salman-rushdie-the-satanic-verses-darul-uloom-deoband/1/170033.html

by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:39 pm

illiterate goons baying for books to be banned goes on all the time. another case in point is the shiv sena's attempt to get such a long journey by rohinton mistry banned from the mumbai univ syllabus. if memory serves, they were successful. what's cowardly in this case is the government relenting to the pressure.

here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oImTwKx2ok0

by Guest Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:45 pm

true. as someone noted, what's ironic is that few of the people defending rushdie have read SV! however, it stands that you can defend SV without having read it but not the converse.

by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:48 pm

by "you" if you mean me, i can only say that i HAVE read the book; thrice to really savor it. however, one can defend the book based on the principle of freedom of expression. one needn't have read the book to do that.

by Guest Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:49 pm

if it is of any interest, here's taslima nasreen (the twit) on rushdie:

http://amreekandesi.com/2012/01/22/theres-no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity/

by Guest Sun Jan 22, 2012 1:52 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:by "you" if you mean me

i did not mean "you." i meant "me." my resolution for this year is to read SV and i will stick to it. obviously, i am missing something and it is never too late.

by Kris Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:39 pm

truthbetold wrote:Congress in its eagerness to corner few extra muslim votes went to obvious extremes to block Rushdie's entry into the nation. Instead of promising Rushdie of full protection, it used to manufactured lies to dissuade Rushdie from coming. Mumbai police and Delhi police have clarified that they did not send any info to Rajasthan police about any threat.

Following that shameful behaviour, rajasthan police has signalled that it will also seek to arrest writers who read from Rushdie's satanic verses. How low can these people go to get few extra votes.

Earlier they messed the protection given Bangladesh writer Taslim and now botched Rushdie's visit. It is a shame that India calls itself a democracy. India is a low to medium level democracy with low esteem for human dignity and freedom.

>>>This whole thing is par for the course. Doesn't surprise me that the GOI can't walk the talk.

by Guest Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:36 am

ruchir joshi's piece in the hindu on the recent rushdie eposide. (joshi has such a flair for writing; sad that he has written so little fiction -- and that i have still not read.)

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article2837585.ece

elsewhere philosopher chetan bhagat had tweeted that liberal extremists and fundamental extremists were both guilty and had prescribed a path of moderation. today riushdie tweeted:

Salman Rushdie
@SalmanRushdie Chetan Bhagat: people like me are liberal
extremists & as bad as the fundos. I'm being Bhaggered!! It's like
being molested by Dan Brown!

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 28, 2012 11:45 am

if chetan bhagat said that he is an idiot. there are no limits to freedom of expression. if you're offended by something your choices are to not read or watch it or express your own opinion of it or protest it. i suppose you could say that's what bhagat did, and i in turn will turn around and say it's my right to call bhagat an idiot. you could turn around and call me an idiot. see how this works?

LOL @ equating being bhaggered to being molested by dan brown.

is there a way to read twitter and facebook posts without actually registering?

by Guest Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:15 pm

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:is there a way to read twitter and facebook posts without actually registering?

not that i am aware.

in fact i had a long (tweet) conversation with bhagat along lines similar to what you say above. he was not naming me in his tweets nor was he responding to me but responding in general to the questions i raised. to quip, he said if pics. of overturned tables and chairs at JLF had been telecast globally HAD the video telecast gone through, would it not have been bad for tourism in jaipur? i said if security had been given to the beamed image of rushdie, like they did to oprah for her JLF visit, would it not have sent a strong message to tourists, globally, that jaipur is a secure place? did he not want that? it went on in the same refrain and he finally conceded that the centre had been soft and that he was entitled to his "freedom of expression" too and then wondered who was to blame (the centre alone or the people too?) and then he stopped tweeting.

by Guest Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:33 pm

it is hard to keep rushdie quiet, especially when he is being criticized. he has been in a few spats in the past, in print (john updike, germaine greer) and on twitter (with esteemed writer taslima nasreen who called him a girls-chaser and recently an a**hole during times of JLF). but i think the most memorable conversation rushdie had was with michiko kakutani, highly respected reviewer for NYT.

michiko is japanese american. she gave rushdie's the moor's last sigh an A rating. a few years later rushdie wrote the ground beneath her feet to impress her a bit more. she gave it C.

soon after, rushdie said this about michiko in an interview: (she's) a weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank

5 years later rushdie published shalimar the crown. michiko gave it C-.
another 5 years later rushdie wrote the enchantress of florence. michiko gave it D.
(5 more years are yet to pass...i am curious to know when michiko will alternately [sic] praise him)

by MaxEntropy_Man Sat Jan 28, 2012 12:35 pm

i'd reverse ground and shalimar's grades and give enchantress a B+. but i do agree that moor is a much much better book than all the other ones you listed.

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