Opposition to Salman Rushdie’s visit to Jaipur is certainly a need of the hour. The blasphemous writer Salman Rushdie, though having the ‘Sir’ title for his shameless art in the west, deserves exile and opposition from every believer irrespective of sect, faith, affiliation or religious organisation. His visit to his home country though is a different issue yet public rage against him is simply the protest against his remorseless encounters against Islam and against his heinous and simply unpardonable insult of Islam and the glorious Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be to him).
The point is in this secular country not only those should be barred from roaming free or having been left unpunished who hurt only Muslim sentiments but all those who hurt any religion, any faith. Writers should not justify blasphemous jottings; ridicule must never be treated merely as the piece of art or whatsoever. Also criticism cannot be intermingled with challenging the very institution of religion, or blasphemy cannot be confused with perception diversity. Not only Jamaat-e-Islami but all religious organisations should condemn his arrival but people should not give space to vested interests to politicise it.
Syed Adfar Rashid Shah
New Delhi