A man who can be dubbed as a political outsider, plunged into politics, got the PM chair riding on the sympathy wave and committed many blunders. The list is very long. Bofors Scam and nullifying the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Shah Bano case are not the only sins of Rajiv Gandhi.
Decisions of legislature and executive along with the scrutiny of the Judiciary shape the nation. In short, the decisions of ‘politicians’ shape the nation and largely impact its citizens. While some decisions like the Economic liberalisation and Nuclear tests of Pokhran helped India take a leap ahead, with the people of India being the ultimate beneficiaries; Others are still a blot on the face of India, for example, the Shah Bano Case. However, the Shah Bano case is not the only blunder of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. As Rajiv Gandhi is the one who sealed author Salman Rushdie’s fate back in 1988 itself.
Salman Rushdie attacked in New York
Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born writer has been stabbed in New York during an event. He was attacked by a lone attacker while he was waiting to deliver his lecture. The police has arrested a 24 year old Hadi Matar for brutally stabbing the author, who as per media reports appears to be sympathetic to Shia extremism.
Salman Rushdie has written 14 novels, but just one book changed his life, that is his fourth novel, ‘The Satanic Verses’.
The Satanic Verses was published in 1988. It was inspired by the life of Prophet Mohammad. The novel courted controversy and Salman Rushdie was accused of ‘blasphemy’ and mocking Islam. Many institutions banned the book, including India, Pakistan, South Africa among others.
Rajiv Gandhi banned ‘The Satanic Verses’ in Indi
In India, the Rajiv Gandhi government banned the book citing law and order issues. To state, Rajiv Gandhi banned the novel contending for the Booker Prize. A book that was not banned by the Muslim world, was banned by the secular government headed by Rajiv Gandhi.
As Salman Rushdie was attacked, a Minister in Rajiv Gandhi government, Natwar Singh flashed out of nowhere to justify the ban. However, the reason behind the ban lies in the politics of Rajiv Gandhi. As we stated earlier (Shah Bano Case), he explicitly practiced Muslim Appeasement and the book was banned with the same intention.
The Rajiv Gandhi government even imposed a travel ban on Salman Rushdie that was eventually lifted by the Vajpayee Government in 1999.
This is when the matter came to public attention. And as a result of unnecessary attention and over-exaggeration of the issue, Rushdie became an eyesore for the world. Even Iran’s leader issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.
Banning the book of Salman Rushdie just to please the extremists was a blunder committed by Rajiv Gandhi. All that Rajiv Gandhi did was he made a mountain out of a molehill. Rajiv Gandhi had the largest mandate in India’s history but still, the ‘weak’ PM bowed down infront of the Muslim MPs of his own party.
He served the Indian author to the Islamists on a golden platter, and today Salman Rushdie is suffering due to the same.
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