Ban on Rushdie’s Satanic Verses by Rajiv Govt Wrong: P Chidambaram

The answer to a bad idea is a good idea, not a ban idea, says former Finance Minister P Chidamabaram.

Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram. (Photo: Reuters)

Twenty-seven years after the then Rajiv Gandhi government banned Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said it was “wrong.”

Chidambaram, who was a Minister of State for Home Affairs under Rajiv Gandhi from 1986-89, also said Indira Gandhi had in 1980 admitted imposing Emergency was a mistake.

“I have no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book was wrong,” Chidambaram said.

“If you had asked me 20 years ago, I would have told you the same thing,” he said when asked why it took him so many years to reach such a conclusion.

Indira Gandhi herself admitted in 1980 that the Emergency was wrong and, if elected to power, she would never impose the Emergency. People believed her and elected her to power again.

<b>P Chidambaram, Former Union Finance Minister</b>

Speaking about alleged rising intolerance in the country, he said, “It is on the rise” and expressed hope that “this moral majoritarianism” will fail comprehensively.

What is of profound concern to me is the apparent rise of intolerance. Khap panchayats today are more visible and more brazen in dispensing Kangaroo justice. There is rush of bans. Ban jeans, ban authors, ban food, ban artist, ban travel, ban NGO.

<b>P Chidambaram</b>

Encouraging the believers of democracy to stand and up and protest, he noted that the rising tide of illiberalism and intolerance is frightening.

He said the enforcement of Constitutional provisions “in letter and spirit” will help curb illiberal tendencies.