VISVANATHAN: “The emptiness of literary protest” (The Asian Age, IN)

Protesting the absence of Salman Rushdie at the Jaipur Literary Festival, four authors read out passages from Rusdhie’s Satanic Verses. Shiv Visvanathan correctly notes that though reading from the book violates the law, this is precisely why these authors should have stood their ground rather than fleeing Jaipur, fearing their arrest. He argues that what could have been a challenge to the state and a defence of free speech ended up amounting to little more than empty liberal rhetoric. (link to article here)