They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? That damned elusive Pimpernel wrote Baroness Emma Orczy about Sir Percy Blakeney aka the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Blakeney was a late-Georgian British society fop who is known more for being a dandy than swordsman but comes to the aid of French royals to spirit them to England to safety from Robespierre who is sending French aristocrats to the guillotine. The Pimpernel is a dashing Englishman who, with his brave band of followers, leaves a genteel existence behind to embrace a double life of unbelievable heroism and mincing foppery.
There is a shade of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the way Salman Rushdie keeps popping up—somewhat exasperatingly for governments—across the world, forcing liberal democracies everywhere into accepting that they might not agree with what is being said but it is their responsibility to protect the right to say it.
The Harud festival in Srinagar (Harud meaning autumn) was to have been held in September last year but was cancelled amid rumours that Salman Rushdie might attend. Although the organisers said they had not planned on inviting Rushdie, “with many authors voicing their concerns about possible violence during the festival due to the heightened nature of the debate, and a call for protest at the venues, we neither have the desire to be responsible for yet more unrest in the valley nor to propagate mindless violence in the name of free speech. We are therefore left with little alternative but to cancel the festival for now,” they said.
Now, while the Jaipur literature festival—which has become an event of some significance globally for its contribution to the arts and politics—has resolved to go on as planned, Rushdie’s possible presence there is causing serious misgivings among agencies of the State. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has asked Rushdie not to come to Rajasthan and has had a meeting with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram; the Darul Uloom Deoband has said that Rushdie’s work was offensive and India should not host him; and the banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is said to have surfaced in Rajasthan apparently to hunt Rushdie down.
Gehlot’s fears are legitimate and genuine. In 2008, Jaipur saw for the first time, synchronised bomb blasts, allegedly the work of radical Islamists, followed by communal riots in Bharatpur last year. Now, Rushdie’s arrival, the state government feels, will put a strain on the government’s resources and inevitably cramp the style of the LitFest as it has come to be known.
More From This Section
Ironies abound at the LitFest. Bank of America is sponsoring the Mughal Tent. The semiotics of a session called “War, Revolution and the Writer as Exile” being funded by a multinational bank (albeit currently somewhat strained) and Indian behemoths like Tata Steel tell their own story. The website of the LitFest dies when you ask it who else is funding it.
And then, there is the conundrum of Salman Rushdie.
The fundamental right to speech and expression is a complex thing. An appeal by the Home Minister of India to artist MF Husain that he could return to India and needed fear nothing could not convince him to return to his country after his exhibitions were vandalised by Hindu extremist groups and multiple cases registered against him in Indian courts. Husain turned his back on a country that offered him freedom of expression, renounced his citizenship and opted for the citizenship of the Emirate of Qatar.
On the other hand, a state government has let it be known to Rushdie that as his views on Islam (what they are, we will never know, as his book, Satanic Verses continues to be banned in India) could offend pious Muslims, he was not welcome here. But should he insist on attending the LitFest, he should be prepared to be surrounded by gun-toting policemen to prevent any harm from coming to him. So the very State that shackles you, must also set you free ?
So far, whether Rushdie will attend or not is still a little hazy. Some reports say that a hotel room is still booked for him, yet others report it being cancelled. Rajasthan’s chief secretary says that either way, forces are being readied to prevent any hot-headed action against the author.
If Salman Rushdie should surface in Jaipur a la the Pimpernel, he will no doubt become the ‘ooh la la’ of the LitFest Page 3. Maybe, that’s what he intended all along. But many liberal democratic Indians are confused. If there is freedom of expression in India why not just lift the ban on Rushdie’s book so that Indians can decide for themselves whether they should read it or not ? And why ban Rushdie, however offensive he might be ?
The standard arguments are well known: the leadership of the minorities is always in the hands of the conservatives who hark back to religious tenet in its purest form to retain their stranglehold on it. The capitulation to the ulema in the Shah Bano case and the stealthy applause that went up when the Babri Masjid was demolished are both shaming for liberal Indians.
But the confusion over Salman Rushdie is even worse: because it says the Indian State can’t guarantee anything.
