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Thackeray has no problem with Rushdie visit

Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray today said he would ask his party's Delhi unit not to oppose the proposed visit of controversial writer Salman Rushdie.

"When I oppose, there is widespread criticism. If freedom of speech and expression really exist, why the opposition to Salman Rushdie," he asked while talking to a television channel at a function organised by the Rotary Club in Bombay.

"I am not against Salman Rushdie coming to India. Let him come. I will explain to my people that he is not against us but against Islam. It is for them to sort out," he said.

Reacting to Prime Minister A B Vajpayee's acceptance of an invitation from Nawaz Sharief to travel on the inaugural bus service from Delhi to Lahore, the Sena chief said he did not think long-pending issues between the two countries could be sorted out by such "gimmicks".

Thackeray further said Pakistan had declared a bandh (general strike) in support of extremists in India.

"That bandh was supported by the Government of Pakistan and it was total. And here we are taking a bus to Pakistan. Where is the question of improving relationship? The prime minister must travel on the bus not as a passenger but as the prime minister of the nation," he said.

He had a dig at noted Marathi poet Vasant Bapat for his criticism yesterday of forces that crushed voices of dissent and which imposed their views on society, endangering freedom of speech and expression.

"People like him think only about themselves and not about others," he said.

Bapat was delivering his presidential address at the inauguration of the 72nd Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan being held in Bombay after 12 years.

"They take Rs25 lakh (Rs2.5 million) from the government and do not hesitate to criticise the government in return," Thackeray said.

To a question, he said he would not attend the literary conference in progress at Sane Guruji Nagri, Shivaji Park, central Bombay.

Replying to another question on the Pakistani premier's invitation to Lata Mangeshkar to visit the country, Thackeray said, "It is for her to decide."

UNI

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