By IANS
Mumbai : Muslim organizations have demanded an apology from Godrej Group head Adi Godrej for hosting controversial author Salman Rushdie in Mumbai.
According to All India Ulema Council general secretary Maulana Mehmood Daryabadi, unless Adi Godrej apologises for hosting a man who has hurt the sentiments of the entire Muslim world and promises not to repeat the mistake (of hosting him) in future, Muslims would boycott all Godrej products.
“Until then, Muslims will boycott all Godrej products,” he said. The council Wednesday also submitted to Godrej headquarters here a letter seeking an apology from and announcing its boycott intention.
A delegation of several Muslim organizations protested against Rushdie and burnt his effigies last Sunday at Juhu in northwest Mumbai, where he stayed at the Godrej bungalow.
Later, they called on Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil to register their sentiments in the matter.
The delegation also submitted a memorandum to Governor S.M. Krishna’s office, urging it to convey to the central government not to grant visa to Rushdie to visit India in future.
Imams across India will convey messages during Friday afternoon prayers to the Muslims to boycott Godrej products until the apology is tendered. The message will also be included in the ongoing Muharram discourses in mosques all over, Daryabandi said.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has questioned Rushdie’s intentions to visit India.
Early this week, Rushdie in a front-page interview to a national daily declared that he would not be cowed down by protests by some “lumpen elements” and would visit India again and again.
SP state president Farooq Ghosi told IANS Thursday that Rushdie always “sneaks in and out of India like a coward.”
“If he dares, let him announce his programme to visit India in advance. Then he will know the sentiments of the Muslim community which has been hurt by his blasphemous writings in the ‘The Satanic Verses’,” Ghosi declared.