Salman Rushdie was born and brought up in Mumbai, he is a ‘person of Indian origin’, and has every right to visit or stay in India as any other PIO. In fact, he has been visiting India quite frequently. The only reason there has been an opposition to his visit for the Jaipur Literary Festival is the upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh where Muslims are expected to form a sizeable ‘vote bank’.

Among the parties, which one has spoken out in his support? Not the Congress, it is in fact actively engaged in blocking his visit and taking credit for the same. Not the BJP, in fact, its minority cell has opposed Rushdie’s India visit. Not the Left. Everybody is playing the game of identity politics and Rushdie (or for that matter MF Husain) is reduced to being just a pawn in that. The fact that this trend shows no signs of dissipating could be dangerous in the long run.

Read full story: Rushdie cancels India visit on security grounds