Salman Rushdie's Video Conference in Jaipur Fest Tomorrow

Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial book 'Satanic Verses' will address the Jaipur Literature Festival through video conference on Tuesday at 3.45 PM. Earlier, Rushdie had decided against attending the Literature Festival in person, claiming that he was informed by intelligence sources in Maharasthra and Rajasthan that paid hitmen from the Mumbai underworld were out to "eliminate" him if he came to India. Rushdie had expressed doubts about the "accuracy" of the intelligence but said in a statement that it would be "irresponsible" on his part to still attend the festival and put the lives of other authors and participants in danger.

 

The Rajasthan government still has to confirm the video conference. According to sources, the festival organizers have not yet contacted the government over Rushdie using video conferencing to address the event. The sources said that the Festival organizer will have to get permission for allowing Rushdie to use the video link. The government will decide after talking to the organisers about the theme and the topic and will give permission only if it is assured that he will not make any reference to 'The Satanic Verses'.
 

Modi Is Not Our PM: Owaisi

MIM is a recognized state political party based in the Indian state of Telangana, with its head office in the old city of Hyderabad, which has its roots in the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen founded in 1927. Unlike most of the regional and national level parties, MIM party leaders ‘fight’ only for the well-being of Muslims, whereas no other party has such communal feelings. In their each and every speech, MIM leaders speak only about Muslims. If these leaders are here to fight for Muslims, then why there are no development works are happening in old city area for decades. Akbaruddin Owaisi faced criticism for making hate remarks on Narendra Modi and Hindus. Recently, his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi made some notorious annotations. In a one-on-one debate between BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi on the topic of demonetization in a popular Hindi channel, the former left no stone unturned in exposing the latter’s communal designs. Owaisi claimed how most of the Muslim community still remains unbanked and that demonetization has caused severe inconvenience to Muslims. He even went on to say that ATM’s in Muslim-dominated areas weren’t fed enough money. He indirectly alleged that the Modi government hadn’t done anything for Muslims. Even after being pressurized Owaisi didn’t call Narendra Modi as his Prime Minister. He went on said, “Your Prime Minister…” On the other hand, Sambit spoke wisely and called Owaisi a leader of small stature because he talked only of Muslims. He said that no area was Muslim or Hindu and that all areas belonged to India. Owaisi was constantly quoting an RBI report, to which Sambit challenged him to show where the RBI had used the word ‘Muslim’. Sambit even said that if a Muslim leader speaks of Muslims it’s not an issue, but the moment a VHP leader speaks of Hindus people go crazy accusing them of imposing the Hindutva ideology. The most amazing of his counters was to Owaisi’s claims of Muslims not having been brought into the banking system. Sambit said that when banks or ATMs are to be opened in Muslim areas leaders like Owaisi shout that banking is un-Islamic and that Muslims should refrain from it! This video of debate between Sambit Patra and Asaduddin Owaisi is going viral in social media.