Jaipur fest begins amid Rushdie suspense

Jaipur: Billed by some as the greatest literary show on earth, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) begins on Friday but the visit of Salman Rushdie to the fest this weekend despite protests by the fundamentalists remained cloaked in suspense.

We were told initially that he would be coming but we have no confirmation, said Biju Josef, DIG, Jaipur.

While Rushdie may or may not attend the fest, there are several big names in the list of participants like British playwright Tom Stoppard and Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist Philip Michael Ondaatje.

There are reports of iconic American talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey's presence and that too in a sari by one of India's top designers, Sabyasachi.

Entering its fifth year, the organizers said JLF is now regarded as the Kumbh Mela of Indian and international writing, drawing in writers and readers from across India and the wider world: from America, Europe, Africa and from across the breadth of South Asia, the brightest, most brilliant, funny, moving and remarkable authors come to Jaipur every January.

But this year the protest by Muslim groups over the scheduled visit of Salman Rushdie added a sour note to the festival.

Indian liberals and intellectuals have slammed the protests, but it is now almost certain that Rushdie will not be present at the inaugural day.

His programme on January 23rd stands however, organizers said. There is a mention of the Booker Prize winning writer's name in the list of attending speakers on the website of the festival.

The Ashok Gehlot government does not want troubles by Muslim groups during the festival and the controversial writer's visit will surely be a security challenge for the administration.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday and admitted that there are security concerns.

Earlier, the visit of Salman Rushdie had landed up in controversy as Islamic Seminary Darul Uloom Deoband urged the Indian government to cancel the visa of the popular author scheduled to grace the fest in Jaipur.

Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, the Vice Chancellor of Darul Uloom said that the government should cancel Rushdie's visa as he had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims through his writings in the past.

The UK-based Indian origin writer had tweeted that he does not need a visa to visit India.

My Indian visit, for the record, I don't need a visa, Salman Rushdie posted on his Twitter page.

Rushdie was scheduled to attend the festival from January 20th to 24th.

A fatwa for killing the writer was declared in 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini, the late supreme leader of Iran, for making certain remarks against Prophet Mohammed in his book - The Satanic Verses.

The remarks were considered blasphemous by the Islamic world.

Published in 1988, the book was banned in several countries including India.

Rushdie had attended the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2007.