Deoband calls for life ban for Salman Rushdie
The seminary also stated that the government should decide on the issue at the earliest without giving any “excuses”. Vice-Chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani has been quoted as saying, “This man (Rushdie) should be barred for life from entering into India and the government cannot give the excuse of Person of Indian Origin (PIOs)."
Speaking on the matter, Law Minister Salman Khurshid opined that a PIO can visit the country without any visa and added, “but the implications of legal rights that overseas Indians have...can be tested before competent authority or before the courts, if the need be."
On Jan 9, Deoband had kicked up a storm and stressed that Rushdie should be barred from entering India as he had hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims in India by publishing his book ‘The Satanic Verses’. In response, Rushdie had said that he does not need a visa to come to India.
OneIndia News