Author Salman Rushdie has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of actively blocking his visit to the state for the Kolkata Literature Festival, adding that claims that he was given ‘friendly advice’ to stay away from Kolkata were false.
Rushdie took to his Twitter account to debunk what he claimed were ‘lies’ by the organisers of the Kolkata Literature Festival as well as various government officials.
Ridiculous, Saugata Roy. I did not get “friendly advice” to stay away from Kolkata. I was told the police would put me on next plane out.
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) 1 फरवरी 2013
Finally re Kolkata: the lit meet organizers are lying when they say I wasn’t invited. I have emails and plane tkt sent by them to prove it.
— Salman Rushdie (@SalmanRushdie) 1 फरवरी 2013
Rushdie visited other cities without incident. PTI
Rushdie added that Mamata Banerjee had ordered police to block his visit to Kolkata, which resulted in police not only giving his full itinerary to the press, but also calling Muslim leaders, which was clearly a bid to incite protests.
Rushdie was scheduled to visit the state in a bid to promote the release of the film Midnight’s Children in Kolkata.
The author who traveled to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai without any problem, was to attend promotional activities for the film with Deepa Mehta and actor Rahul Bose, and hold a press conference.
