Indian Court Lifts Ban on Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses'

An Indian court has recently lifted the ban on 'The Satanic Verses', the controversial book by Indian-born British-American author Salman Rushdie, which had been in place since its publication in 1988. A wave of anger from Muslims in India, Pakistan, and the UK followed the book's release, leading to a fatwa issued by then Supreme Leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, calling for Rushdie's death. A court in New Delhi, the capital of India, lifted the ban on 'The Satanic Verses' last week in a case that was opened in 2019 challenging the prohibition on importing the book into India. According to a ruling issued last Tuesday, the Indian government told the Supreme Court that the ban on importing 'The Satanic Verses' was 'untraceable' and therefore could not be presented to the court. Consequently, the court ruled that 'there is no option but to assume that such an order does not exist.' A person who attempted to import 'The Satanic Verses' approached the court after being told at bookstores in the country that the novel could not be sold or imported. The complaint stated that the individual could not find an official order banning the import of the book on government websites. In fact, neither the complainant nor the government could locate this order. Salman Rushdie has previously commented on the perception among some Muslims that his book is offensive, stating: 'My view is that you do not have the right not to be offended. If we had that right, we could ban everything. I walk into bookstores and see many things that offend me. I do not think of burning the bookstore.' Just a month after the publication of 'The Satanic Verses', then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi banned its sale in India, making it the first country to prohibit the book. This action was taken ahead of elections in which he sought to attract the votes of India's Muslim minority. Since then, 'The Satanic Verses' has practically not been sold in Indian bookstores. Rushdie also remarked on the notion of a book being offensive: 'The idea of how we can live in a world where nothing offends us is absurd. The world is complex, and one of the natures of a free society is that people speak, write, and create all kinds of things that others will not like. It has to be this way; there is no other way.' He added: 'If you are offended by something, that is your problem. It is not my problem; it is your problem. Being offended by a book is very difficult. You have to work hard to be offended. I think if someone reads a six-hundred-page book and then says they are offended by it, they have worked hard to be offended. Also, whenever you feel that you are being offended by reading a book, you can stop that offense at any time. All you have to do is close that book.' Rushdie's relationship with his birthplace, Mumbai, has been tense and complex over the past three decades. He has been a vocal critic of the nationalist policies of current Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and when he was attacked with a knife in New York, he received almost no support from India's political class. Rushdie has previously stated that leaving his country was one of the revolutionary moments of his life: 'I feel that there have been transformative moments in my life. Leaving India, where I grew up, and choosing to live in Britain was one of those moments. Choosing to immigrate to New York was another one of those moments. You know, sometimes looking back, you ask yourself what would have happened if you had chosen a different path? Who would you have been if you had taken the road not taken?' A few years ago, ahead of the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan, India’s largest literary event, Salman Rushdie had to cancel his trip to India and participation in the festival due to threats against his life.