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I will be frank, I bought his Midnight Children and I got so confused with the first few pages that the book remains unread and new.'Bar on Rushdie barbaric, free the written word'
KOLKATA: From one literature meet in solidarity with another, it was a suitable response.
Vikram Seth, author of 'A Suitable Boy', marked the inaugural session of the Kolkata Literary Meet on Republic Day with a stinging critique of the politics that shut fellow novelist Salman Rushdie out of the Jaipur Literature Festival a week ago. As a packed auditorium nodded and clapped in approval, a manifestation of a collective resentment against what an angry Seth described as a "grotesque and barbaric act" and "a denial of liberty of thought, expression and belief", the newborn lit meet gave the booklovers' city a long-deserved gift - a stage for the meeting of minds.
"Sixty-three years ago,when the country's Constitution was adopted, it was decided that India would be a republic where freedom of speech and expression would be upheld. But just two days before another momentous Republic Day, a celebrated writer was not only denied permission to be physically present at a literary meet but wasn't even allowed to address the audience via long-distance conference," was how Seth began his critique at the lit meet, which is being held at the Kolkata Book Fair.
He questioned whether India was ruled by the Constitution or by a dictator. "We will not let our republic be hijacked by fear. This happened once during the Emergency.
We should not let this happen again. Let the writers of the country unite and free the written word," he added.
'Bar on Rushdie barbaric, free the written word' - The Times of India
I have never wasted any more money on him.
However, is it right to ban a writer?
Ban a book, if that upsets people, but ban a writer?
To look at the usual arguments that will be pandered.
Hussein's painting was not liked by some.
But who banned him?
None.
He quit India because he did not want to face the court cases!