JOIN USThe Jaipur Literature Festival organisers heaved a sigh of relief as a few Muslim groups who raised objection to the the visit of author Jeet Thayil — who had read excerpts from Salman Rushdie’s banned book Satanic Verses during lit fest last year — softened their stand on Wednesday, saying they have no objection to his visit, provided he does not repeat his act.
A delegation of Muslim scholars and representatives led by Qari Moinuddin, the convener of the recently formed ‘Azmat E Rasool’ foundation, met Jaipur Police Commissioner B L Soni and apprised him of their stand.
The Azmat E Rasool foundation, formed on Tuesday night, is an amalgam of various Muslim groups here. They demanded that there be no act that hurts the sentiments of the community during the literature festival beginning on Thursday and sought directions by the police and government to organisers in this regard.
The representatives of the community, till the other day, were up in arms against Thayil’s visit for hurting their sentiments by reading from the banned book last year. “We have no objection to Thayil’s visit because we were told by the police commissioner today that he had apologised for reading from the banned book last year,” Qari Moinuddin told media here.
“However, if he or any other author does that again during this festival, the law will take its course and the organisers will be responsible for that,” he said.