Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 24 (IANS) The Congress Tuesday sought to play down the decision of the party-led Rajasthan government against allowing Salman Rushdie to address the Jaipur Literature Festival via a video link and said the organisers had no other choice in view of protests at the venue.

Party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury said the organisers had not been left with “any other choice” in view of the protests.

“There are many issues to look at in the Rushdie episode. There were a lot of people agitating against it (Rushdie’s proposed address). Whether it was against freedom of expression, we can look at it collectively later,” Chowdhury told IANS.

The Congress spokesperson dismissed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accusation that Rushdie episode had “exposed Congress for its worst communal vote bank politics”.

“It is nothing new from the BJP. They are patent holders for communal problems,” Chowdhury said.

Another party spokesperson Rashid Alvi refused to comment. “It is for the Rajasthan government to say why it took the decision,” Alvi said.

A video address by Rushdie at the festival was called off Tuesday following protests by some Muslim groups.

Rushdie, whose book “The Satanic Verses” is banned in India, had to cancel his visit to the festival over security fears.

The Rajasthan Police told reporters in Jaipur that they had told the organisers that they cannot allow Rushdie to speak via video in view of resentment simmering in the city against his address.