Politics wins: Rushdie affair ends in an inconclusive debate

Hours after fringe elements entered Diggi Palace, the venue of the Jaipur Literary Festival, threatening to disrupt the proceedings at the event if Salman Rushdie spoke at the event through a video link, protestors were invited on stage and challenged to an intellectual debate on the issue. A panel with Tarun Tejpal, Shoma Chaudhury, Javed Akhtar, Ashok Vajpeyi and Rahul Bose took on Salim Engineer, Pakr Faruqi and Professor Hasan who represented the protestors. Earlier in the day the video link with Salman Rushdie was cancelled following reports of fringe elements planning to protest at the venue. [caption id=“attachment_192676” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Reuters”]  [/caption] Defending their position to protest, Salim Engineer said that the basis of Islam is freedom and although no-one stopped Rushdie from coming to India or the proposed venue, there were apprehensions of him saying something that might have offended the religious sensibilities of the minorities in the country, and thus the protests and threats of violence. “Crime is crime even if committed 25 years ago. Book is still banned. He has written the book. Can’t prosecute the book. He is the writer we hold liable,” Pakr Faruqi said, to which Javed Akhter asked the protestors,  “Ban the film. But do you ban the filmmaker?” The arguments placed by the protestors faced many uncomfortable questions and occassional booing from the audience. Rahul Bose pointed out the ambiguity in the law and the constitution which allow the government to function in a manner whence the state defines obscenity and morality according to its conveniences. He urged the liberal voices to come together outside the JLF and fight against injustice. Barkha Dutt raised the issue of the role played by the media in the whole issue spanning the course of the last three days. She said the media had played a negative role in amplifying the issue and that as a result an entire minority was painted as lunatics in a single stroke. She felt that the entire issue was manufactured. “We have made the fringe mainstream. Gross disservice to every muslim today… Media should not be the oxygen to orthodoxy. Media has caricatured an entire community as a bunch of lunatics today,” she said. She slammed the protestors for cherry picking competitive politicisation of the issue, while bringing in the issue of MF Hussain’s ostracisation and exile. While Salim Engineer spoke on the limits on freedom of speech and how Rushdie’s novel had offended the minorities across the globe. “What will your protest achieve for the poor Muslim?” was Javed Akhtar’s reaction. Akhtar pointed out that muslims in India are victims of a multitude of problems including that of unemployment, illiteracy, and repressive women’s rights. Although the debate was inconclusive with either side indulging in rhetoric, it remains to be seen if Rahul Bose’s call to resume this fight outside will be met with equal enthusiasm.