British author Salman Rushdie Sunday accused the Rajasthan Police of concocting a supposed death threat to keep him away from the Jaipur Literature Festival. The police have refused to comment.
"I`ve investigated, and believe I was indeed lied to. I am outraged and very angry," Rushdie posted on micro blogging site Twitter. He said he did not know who gave the orders to police to come up with the lie. "Don`t know... Yes, I guess the same police who want to arrest Hari, Amitava, Jeet and Ruchir. Disgusting," wrote the controversial writer of Indian origin. Authors Hari Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi read passages from "The Satanic Verses" on the first day of the festival, after Rushdie pulled out of the event citing threats to him. Rajasthan Police have sought a copy of the video from the organisers of the festival of the session hosting Kunzru and Kumar in which the two read excerpts from the book, a police source said.
Rushdie appeared at the festival without incident in 2007 but this year Muslim activists lobbied for him to be banned, raising fears of angry protests and security problems at the scenic venue in the gardens of an old palace. Among more than 250 speakers at the five-day event were US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, biologist and atheist author Richard Dawkins and Indian best-selling novelist Chetan Bhagat. When Rushdie announced on Friday that he would not attend the festival, he said he had doubts about the accuracy of the intelligence reports but it would be "irresponsible" to ignore them.
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