Known author and Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie recently spoke about free speech and what he described as growing restrictions in several countries, including India. In an interview, Rushdie said he was deeply concerned about the rise of Hindu nationalism in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that Muslims were being portrayed negatively.
However, his comments triggered sharp criticism on social media, with many users pointing out that Rushdie was nearly killed in 2022 after being stabbed 15 times on stage by a radical Islamist attacker in upstate New York. Critics accused him of ignoring the source of threats he has personally faced while blaming Hindu nationalism in international forums.
Responding online, several users reminded Rushdie that it was Islamist groups who issued death threats against him, forced bans on his books, and ultimately carried out the violent attack that left him blind in one eye. They accused the author of pushing a misleading narrative about Hindus while overlooking Islamist extremism. His book was also banned during a liberal government, Congress in 1988, which has a history of Muslim appeasement. However, the Current government under the leadership of PM Modi lifted that ban last year. Yet he dares to frame this government and Hindu nationalism in a negative picture.
“I feel very worried about it. I have lots of friends in India. Everybody is extremely concerned with the attack on the freedoms of journalists, writers, intellectuals, professors, et cetera,” Rushdie told Bloomberg. He further claimed that India’s identity was being reshaped through a particular ideological lens.
“There seems to be a desire to rewrite the history of the country; essentially to say Hindus good, Muslims bad — the thing VS Naipaul once called a ‘wounded civilisation,’ the idea that India is a Hindu civilization wounded by the arrival of Muslims. That project has a lot of energy behind it,” he said.
Social media backlash and criticism
Rushdie’s remarks sparked widespread backlash on X, where users accused him of hypocrisy and selective outrage. Many highlighted the irony of him expressing fear over Hindu nationalism despite surviving an Islamist attack.
One user wrote, “What a meltdown!! Listen carefully to their words. They are ‘hurt’ that their narratives spun for over a hundred years are biting the dust. Hindu renaissance is rubbing salt on their wounds.” Another post stated, “Sitting with an eye lost to Islamists, Salman Rushdie is worried about Hindu nationalists. He knows who to target to keep the other eye safe.”
What a meltdown!! 🤣🤣🤣
Listen carefully to their words. They are ‘hurt’ that their narratives spun for over a 100yrs are biting dust.
Hindu renaissance is rubbing salt on their wounds.
Salman was almost killed by radical Islamist fanatics, still he is crying on Hindus… https://t.co/SmRUPnEFHc
— Tathvam-asi (@ssaratht) December 7, 2025
Others revisited Rushdie’s long history of persecution by Islamist groups. “Who took the eye out? A Muslim. Who burned the book and forced the ban? Muslims. Yet Salman Rushdie is suddenly very worried about growing ‘Hindu nationalism.’ Guess after losing his eye, he’s now worried about losing his head too,” read one post.
Rushdie has lived under constant threat since the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, which led Iran to issue a fatwa calling for his death. Despite surviving decades of Islamist hostility and a near-fatal attack in 2022, critics say his recent remarks unfairly target Hindus while ignoring the extremism that has directly shaped his own life.
