New Delhi, Jan 12: Noted Indian writer Salman Rushdie’s visit to India to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival slated to be held at the end of the month has kicked up a storm among hardline Muslims here. The matter caused an irk further when the Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband declared that Rushdie should be awarded a life ban from entering India.

The seminary also stated that the government should decide on the issue at the earliest without giving any “excuses”. Vice-Chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani has been quoted as saying, “This man (Rushdie) should be barred for life from entering into India and the government cannot give the excuse of Person of Indian Origin (PIOs)."

Speaking on the matter, Law Minister Salman Khurshid opined that a PIO can visit the country without any visa and added, “but the implications of legal rights that overseas Indians have...can be tested before competent authority or before the courts, if the need be."

On Jan 9, Deoband had kicked up a storm and stressed that Rushdie should be barred from entering India as he had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims in India by publishing his book ‘The Satanic Verses’. In response, Rushdie had said that he does not need a visa to come to India.

OneIndia News