Chetan Bhagat says banned writers not 'heroes'
Best-selling Indian writer Chetan Bhagat on Saturday criticised the support leant to authors whose books are banned for offending religious communities, a day after Salman Rushdie cancelled his trip to Jaipur citing death threat warning.
Bhagat, whose five novels have sold around 6 million copies, condemned the banning of texts at the Jaipur Literature Festival but criticised people who proclaim their writers as heroes for upholding the right to free speech.
"(Banned books) have hurt people, they have hurt Muslims," said Bhagat. "I don't think anyone should be banned... but let's not make heroes out of them."
Rushdie said on Friday that he was abandoning his visit to the five-day festival due to assassination threats against him, following protests by some Indian Muslim groups at the invitation to the author of The Satanic Verses.
Organizers of the festival said in a statement late on Friday that they would not tolerate any legal violations at the event after two authors read passages from The Satanic Verses, which is banned in India, in support of Rushdie.
"Any comments made by the delegates reflect their personal, individual views and are not endorsed by the festival, or attributable to its organizers," they wrote in the statement.
The publication of The Satanic Verses over twenty years ago sparked a wave of protests around the world after Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini claimed that the novel's portrayal of the prophet Muhammad insulted Islam.
Bhagat, whose best-selling novels such as 2005's One Night @ the Call Centre have divided literary critics, has risen in prominence over the past year as an outspoken supporter of the movement headed by anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare.
"Everyone has a right to hurt, but people don't have to," Bhagat added.
Oprah Winfrey, Michael Ondaatje and Ariel Dorfman will speak to over 70,000 visitors at the event, which aims to showcase the best of Indian, South Asian and international writing in one of the world's fastest-growing publishing markets.
Comments
Chetan Bhagat says that those
Ch V Suryanarayana
22 Jan 2012 - 16:15
Chetan Bhagat says that those who write books offensive to some should not be made heroes. Fine. Anybody can take any innocuous writing and object to it on some religious basis. Once some fanatic leader condemns something it is only natural that his fanatic followers raise a big hue and cry. Bhagat's dictum would mean that because some fanatic in Russia something very objectionable in Bhagavd Gita, Krishna and Vyasa should treated not as heroes but as somebody to be condemned. If I find in my perverted thinking that is something in say the Bible or Koran that is anti Hindu, and I have a few followers who go on the rampage and destroy public and private property, and belabor people, does it mean that the authors of those sacred texts are no longer to be considered as heroes?
Post new comment