KOLKATA: Controversial writer Salman Rushdie’s trip to Kolkata to promote the cinematic adaptation of his book ‘Midnight’s Children’ by Deepa Mehta has been called off amid security issues, Dispatch News Desk (DND) reported on Wednesday.
Sources privy to the film said that they had planned some promotional activities in the city involving him including a press conference but were forced to cancel it at the last minute after finding out that there were security issues.
However, Javed Shamim, Joint Commissioner of Police (headquarters), said “We had no prior information of his (Rushdie) arrival in the city. We do not know anything about it.”
Meanwhile, around a hundred people from different Muslim groups had gathered at the Kolkata airport in the morning to lodge their protest against the author as they were anticipating his arrival in the city.
Later, when airport police told them that the author of ‘Satanic Verses’ is not coming down to Kolkata they dispersed.
DND
