After a Muslim group threatened to launch a protest if authors, who read out from a book of Salman Rushdie, were allowed to participate in the Jaipur Literature Festival, now the BJP Youth wing members staged a protest saying that they will not let any Pakistani author and writer to participate in the festival.
But Jaipur police commissioner B.L. Soni said no one has the right to break the law. “We will ensure peace and no one will be allowed to disturb it,” he said.
The Janata Yuva Morcha activists, led by its vice-president Lakshmikant Bhardwaj, took out a protest on Tuesday and shouted slogans against Pakistan. The BJP workers later assembled near the police commissioner’s office.
They submitted a memorandum to the police and said they will oppose any Pakistani writer’s participation in the festival.
“How can we let Pakistani writers come here and address a function when the Pakistani Army has beheaded our soldiers. We are not against the festival, but we are against such brutality with our soldiers,” said Mr Bhardwaj.
According to the festival organisers, a group of seven Pakistani writers, including Mohammed Hanif, Fahmida Riaz, M.A. Farooqi and Nadeem Aslam will participate in the festival.
Two days back, some Muslim bodies issued a warning to the organisers and asked them not to invite authors who read out parts of Rushdie’s book last year. Though the BJP as a organisation is still maintaining its silence over the issue, its youth wing is continuously protesting against Pakistani writers and artists. The BJP youth wing had forced the authorities to cancel the performance of Saddat Hasan Manto’s play in Jaipur last week when a Lahore-based group came to Jaipur to perform.