Chidambaram on Congress faux pas: Ban on Rushdie's book by Rajiv govt was wrong, Emergency was a mistake

After a gap of twenty-seven years, senior Congress leader an former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday openly admitted the ban imposed on Salman Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses during the regime of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was wrong.

Chidambaram, who was a Minister of State for Home Affairs under Rajiv Gandhi from 1986-89, finds fault with his own party's decision at a time when the Congress accuses the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of intolerance.

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Chidambaram 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, who was MoS Home Affairs when the ban was imposed in October 1988,

"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.

Asked if the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi was also wrong, the senior Congress leader said, "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."

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," he said.

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