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Nihal: Dispute over Salman Rushdie at Jaipur Festival.

18/01/2012

Dispute over Salman Rushdie at Jaipur Festival.

BBC Asian Network - Nihal, Dispute over Salman Rushdie at Jaipur Festival.

Nihal asks: is it time to forgive Salman Rushdie?

Nihal asks: is it time to forgive Salman Rushdie? Plus Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, joins Nihal. And was Asian music better 30 or 40 years ago?

At 1, Is it time to forgive Salman Rushdie?

Is it time to forgive Salman Rushdie?

A debate's been rumbling on for days now over whether the author should be allowed to attend the Jaipur literary festival. Last week the Vice Chancellor of an influential Islamic seminary in India called on the government there to block Mr Rushdie's visit by "cancelling his visa". The grounds for this was that he had offended muslims through the publication of The Satanic Verses, which many regard as blasphemous. Several political parties have said they support the seminary's demand.

It's now been announced that Rushdie wont be attending the opening day of the festival - although organisers say this is simply because of a change in his schedule. But according to newspaper reports the government of Rajasthan state - where Jaipur is located - have put pressure on festival organisers as they're worried about the security implications his visit would raise.

So where do you stand on this? 

At 2, A report by the 'British Future' think tank suggests that ethnic minorities feel a little more proud to be British than white Brits, and British Asians are the most optimistic about the coming year. Does that surprise you? Sunder Katwala, the director of 'British Future' joins Nihal after 2 pm. 


At 2.30, Nihal delves into the BBC's archive of Asian classics and pulls out a performance given by Gurdas Maan, 'Akhiyan Ho Deegdiya' in 1998 on the programme Network East Musical Memories. He also wants to know if you think Asian music better 30 or 40 years ago?

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