Speak up we must

SALMAN RUSHDIE has spent decades facing Islamist death threats since his controversial fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, was published in 1988. Ironically, the celebrated Mumbai-born author was supposed to discuss the US as a refuge for exiled and persecuted writers when he was stabbed by a 24-year-old. The outpouring of shock and sadness by the writers’ fraternity, along with messages of support for the 75-year-old, calls out the attack for what it is — an assault on freedom of thought and speech. If the fatwa to kill Rushdie issued by Iran’s supreme leader in 1989 was ghastly, the violent attack on him some 33 years later bears testimony to the deadly net that fanaticism casts and its horrific residual effects. In disbelief over her son’s actions, the distraught mother of the accused said he turned into a religious zealot after a month-long trip to the Middle East.

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The rise of majoritarianism around the world is shrinking space for free speech and those holding a contrarian opinion. The felt need to shut down voices of dissent and discourage the free flow of viewpoints is a direct attack on democratic values. Maintaining silence on the Rushdie episode is akin to an endorsement of the rogue elements and their ways. India was the first country to ban the book three decades back, citing law and order concerns. Many books may still get banned, but the right to disagree has to be protected. Death threats and physical harm must only elicit outright condemnation and censure.

The feisty novelist has paid a devastating price for his defence of free expression. He is, fortunately, on the path to recovery, to give us, as a fellow writer hoped, more of his extraordinary imaginative intelligence. As for the assailant, he has only succeeded in returning the world to the power of words. Salman Rushdie’s words.