Girish Karnad defends Rushdie

Bangalore, January 18 (ANI): Veteran Bollywood actor and director, Girish Karnad has dubbed the string of protests by certain groups to stop author Salman Rushdie from visiting India as 'unfortunate' and said that acts like this are harmful for the future of writers in the country. Rushdie s visit to Jaipur for the Literature Festival has come under cloud after Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband said that the Booker prize winning author should not be allowed on Indian soil because he has "hurt the sentiments of Muslims the world over". Following the demand, the Rajasthan government also raised concerns over his security.