The writer Salman Rushdie has called for support for the movement led by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), voicing concern that intolerance has grown in India.
The British author of Indian origin made the remarks at a dinner held at a restaurant in New York, where he also criticised the Hindu nationalist camp while discussing India’s recent political situation.
The dinner was held to raise funds for the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. “After a long time, India’s young people have given us a ray of hope,” Rushdie said.
“Something is happening in India. The situation is at boiling point,” he said. “I will say something that perhaps should not be said in a restaurant: celebrate the cockroaches’ movement. After a long time, India’s young people have given us a ray of hope. Stand by the Cockroach Janata Party’s movement.”
A video of the speech was shared on social media by the journalist and writer Amitava Kumar.
Recalling his childhood, Rushdie said that people of every community once took part in the festivals of all religions in India, creating a rare spirit of harmony. When he was growing up in Bombay, he said, nobody asked whether someone was Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or Parsi; everyone celebrated everything together. That is no longer seen in India, he said.
His remarks drew a sharp reaction from Hindutva political circles and right-wing commentators. Those circles once praised Rushdie as a symbol of free expression for his writing against Islamic extremism, but they are now angry with him for speaking out against the Modi government.
Many on social media took his side, however. They said that by backing the young people’s movement at the New York dinner, Rushdie had touched a sensitive point in India’s politics and would now face criticism for it.
The film director Mira Nair, mother of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, also attended the event, where her birthday was celebrated on the sidelines. She described herself as “the mother of the cockroaches”, saying that the “cockroaches” in India were fighting for democracy and that she was proud of them as a mother.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report