This refers to the Newsmaker on Salman Rushdie (“Our Scarlet pimpernel,” January 20). The author’s position on the matter is confused by her reference to factors that can best be described extraneous to the current situation. She questions the sources of funding that run the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF). The JLF is spearheaded by WIlliam Dalrymple, a well-known writer who has written extensively on Islam in India (White Mughals is one of his books). It can be easily argued that he has no dog in this fight except the omnipresent elephant in the room: the state’s responsibility to protect free speech. If the writer’s allusion is to a dubious source of funding with an interest in disparaging Islam, it is plain wrong. Also, the author mentions the state’s willingness to provide protection to M F Husain should he have decided to return to India. That he refused to accept the offer is a different matter. But the writer fails to connect the dots about why the same state was chary of giving Rushdie a foolproof assurance. Clearly there was more to Rajasthan’s caution than meets the eye, namely the upcoming elections in UP and Punjab.
Vikram Johri, Lucknow
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