‘This is no way for a free society to behave’: Salman Rushdie wrote to Rajiv Gandhi after ban on ‘The Satanic Verses’ | World News,The Indian Express
In his letter to Rajiv Gandhi, Salman Rushdie had asserted that the right to freedom of expression is at the foundation of any democratic society and said "Indian democracy was becoming something of a laughing stock."
Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed to the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York. A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and underwent surgery. He is likely to lose an eye in the attack.
Ever since it came out in 1988, Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses has been one of the most controversial books in the world. After Muslims from across the globe began making a hue and cry about the book, alleging that it mocked their faith, various national governments, including the Indian government under Rajiv Gandhi, banned the import and sale of the work.
On learning about the Indian government’s decision, the author shot off a strongly-worded letter to the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
The New York Times published a version of the letter on October 19, 1988, Section A, Page 27 of the National edition with the headline: ‘India Bans a Book For Its Own Good.’
In the letter, Rushdie expressed his exasperation over the government’s move to ban the book “after representations by two or three Muslim politicians, including Syed Shahabuddin and Khurshid Alam Khan, both members of Parliament.”
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