Salman Rushdie's controversial novel, The Satanic Verses, angered Muslims throughout the world with its blasphemous content. As such, Iran's supreme leader ordered a death sentence upon him during which Rushdie was given protection by the London police, further accentuating the situation; riots in Mumbai killed 11 people. Behind these controversies, Rushdie actually wished to ask the question of Mumbai's identity; whether, as a religiously diverse city, its unorthodox views boosted or busted its strive for secularism. He wrote the book to show a diverse India, during times when the idea of a “Hindu India” was on the rise. To him, the Satanic verses celebrates this diversity because of its “cosmopolitaness” and shuns the idea of Pure. The price of freedom is the responsibility not to offend. Till today, feelings of distrust exist between the Indian Muslims and the police. Suspicions were drawn towards them after the Mumbai attacks. India is both more and less open to the book today. The Satanic Verses is freely available but remains officially banned.
(169 words)
By Sabila, Natasya and Syaheerah
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