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Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust sends open
invitation to Rushdie
Monday January 23, 2012 02:40:51 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi:
Drawing parallels with late painter M.F. Husain, artist-activist
group Sahmat Monday extended an invitation to Salman Rushdie,
author of "The Satanic Verses", who has had to stay away from the
Jaipur Literature Festival over alleged security threats.
"We have watched with dismay the unnecessary controversy which
erupted over the presence of Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literary
Festival. We strongly disapprove the threats - real or concocted -
issued against Rushdie's participation," Sahmat member Ram Rahman
said in a statement.
The Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (Sahmat) said the works of
contemporary Indian painter M.F. Hussain would also be on display
to coincide with his visit.
"Sahmat is issuing an open invitation to Salman Rushdie to come to
Delhi to deliver a lecture or participate in a discussion on
literature at any time of his choosing," he said.
"We will host him under any circumstances along with an exhibition
of the works of the late M.F. Husain, driven into forced exile by
a similar retreat by the state in its cowardly unwillingness to
stand up against communal politics," he said.
Hussain died in London June last year, after years of self-exile
following threats from some Hindu organisations.
"The state has once again succumbed to retrogressive forces using
works of creative expression for their own narrow, partisan and
divisive political agendas," he said.
Rushdie had to cancel his scheduled visit to the festival in
Jaipur over security fears. First the proposed trip evoked
protests from Muslim groups over his book "The Satanic Verses",
and then there were alleged threats from the underworld.
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