This Friday’s attack on Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie in the United States as he was preparing to speak at a conference caused great outrage in India, from which, after decades of threats against the author, numerous signals of condemnation were sent.
“Attack on Salman Rushdie in New York, a coward. This is the result of hate campaigns systematically carried out by fanatics and radicalizing ordinary people,” Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Indian peacemaker Mahatma Gandhi, tweeted.
“The world must take note and take action against the spreaders of hate among us,” he added.
Rushdie, 75 years old, resident of St. New Yorkwas attacked on stage while attending a conference in the town of Chatoqua, six hours west of the Big Apple, and received what appeared to be stab wounds to the neck, according to local police.
The attacker was quickly detained by a police officer, and the essayist was taken by helicopter to the hospital, but his condition has not yet improved.
Outrage in South Asia
Messages of condemnation also came from numerous writers from the south. Asialike the Indian Amitav Ghosh, who was “horrified” by what had happened, or the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen, who was also threatened for her comments on Islam and stressed that the attack took place despite the fact that Rushdie had several bodyguards with protection since 1989.
The major Indian media outlets were also quick to pick up the news of the attack and place it at the top of their digital front pages, opening up another space to instantly follow the latest news.
The writer was threatened with death in 1989 by a fatwa (religious decree) by the Iranian government for his work The Satanic Verses, forcing him to spend years on the run.
The work, a novel in which fiction is combined with philosophical reflections and a sense of humor, aroused the anger of Shiite Muslims, who considered it an insult to the Koran, Muhammad and the Islamic faith and was banned in India, Pakistan, Egypt. , Saudi Arabia and South Africa. (EFE)
Source: RPP
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.