New Delhi, August 13
K Natwar Singh, who was a Union Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Government that banned Salman Rushdie’s controversial book, “The Satanic Verses”, strongly defended the decision on Saturday asserting it was taken “purely” for law and order reasons.
With focus back on Rushdie’s book in the wake of the attack on him in New York, Singh, who was the Minister of State for External Affairs when the book was banned in 1988, said he was part of the decision and had told the then prime minister the book could cause serious law and order problems as feelings were running very high.
Singh (91) rejected as “rubbish” the charge by critics the Rajiv Gandhi Government’s decision to ban the book was driven by appeasement towards Muslims.
“I don’t think it (the decision to ban the book) was wrong because you see it had led to law and order problems, particularly in Kashmir. In other parts of India also there was disquiet,” Singh told
“Rajiv Gandhi asked me what should be done. I said, ‘all my life I have been totally opposed to banning books but when it comes to law and order, even a book of a great writer like Rushdie should be banned’,” the diplomat-turned-politician said.
Rushdie’s ‘Midnight’s Children’ is one of the great novels of the 20th century but the decision to ban “The Satanic Verses” was taken purely for law and order reasons, Singh asserted.
A massive controversy had erupted after the release of the book ‘The Satanic Verses’ as several Muslims saw it as blasphemous.
