Salman Rushdie likely to visit Mumbai

The state minister for textiles and minorities welfare, Naseem Khan, on Tuesday, expressed serious reservations over the visit of controversial author Salman Rushdie in India.

Several Muslim organizations and academician have urged the state government to take the lead and intervene to cancel the visit.

Highly placed sources in the state government told DNA, “Sensing the strong protest emanating from minorities, Khan has decided to write a letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh to apprise him of the strong resentment.”

Sources indicated that Rushdie also plans to visit Mumbai as he has strong emotive bonds with the city. Initially, the state government had decided to let the centre handle the Rushdie visit. But, in the last 24 hours there are reports of various minorities organizations gearing up to take to streets to protest against the author.

Speaking to DNA, Khan said, “I personally, believe the government at the centre should intervene and stop his visit to India. The minorities are upset as he has misrepresented the religion and Koran. I feel the sentiments of people cannot be overlooked.”

However, unlike the Congress which is worried about minorities protest to adversely affect ruling Congress-NCP, the BJP has dismissed the matter as insignificant.