Category: Satanic Verses

  • The BS Column: Unban the Satanic Verses

    (Published in the Business Standard, September 7, 2009) In less than a month, my country will observe an unusual, and shameful, anniversary: the 21st year of the ban in India on Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. In these 21 years, the author has experienced exile, had a fatwa pronounced on him, gone into hiding, had…

  • The BS Column: Will you take offence? One cup or two?

    (Published in the Business Standard, June 22nd, 2009; this is the longer, uncut version of the piece that appeared in print) A few years after the ban on Salman Rushdie’s Satanic Verses in India, I happened to be browsing in a London bookshop. (*Corrected thanks to Rahul Siddharthan–the original line mentioned incorrectly that Khomeini’s fatwa…