India: Malayalam writers, artists condemn the attack on Salman Rushdie

Source: https://sabrangindia.in/article/malayalam-writers-artists-condemn-attack-salman-rushdie

India
Malayalam writers, artists condemn the attack on Salman Rushdie

Press Release 23 Aug 2022

Salman Rushdie

We, the undersigned, are deeply saddened and shocked by the brutal attempt to assassinate acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie, during a literary event in Chautauqua, western New York. We strongly condemn this heinous act and express our solidarity with the writer.

Salman Rushdie has been under the shadow of death threats for decades for what he once wrote. The call to kill him was, by itself, a condemnable move against freedom of expression. The fact that Rushdie was spending many years of his life in hiding, unable to experience even the simple comforts of life, yet was active in writing, reveals his passion for creativity. The present incident was intended to completely silence the writer, and to punish him for what he wrote. This despicable act, we see, as a great crisis faced by creative pursuits in recent times.

The attack on Salman Rushdie, who is a man of peace, and dealing only in words, is yet another example of the violent intolerance of dissent that is dangerously gaining momentum. We think, it is the need of the hour for writers, artists, art-lovers and readers to protest against this dastardly act and its dangerous implications.

Wishing Salman Rushdie a speedy recovery and a quick return to writing.

1 M.T. Vasudevan Nair 41 Madhupal
2 Adoor Gopalakrishnan 42 C.S. Chandrika
3 T.J.S. George 43 Unni R.
4 K. Satchidanandan 44 P.F. Mathews
5 Anand 45 Venkitesh Ramakrishnan
6 Sashi Kumar 46 S. Gopalakrishnan
7 Zacharia 47 Gracy
8 N.S. Madhavan 48 K.C. Narayanan
9 KGS 49 Sunil Ashokapuram
10 M. Mukundan 50 Abdul Kalam Azad
11 K.P. Kumaran 51 Ambikasuthan Mangad
12 T.V. Chandran 52 J. Raghu
13 M.N. Karasseri 53 O. P. Suresh
14 M.A. Baby 54 Pramod Raman
15 Khadeeja Mumtaz 55 Paul Kallanode
16 Balan Nambiar 56 K.S. Venkatachalam
17 Sadanand Menon 57 Chelavoor Venu
18 Sara Joseph 58 Mangad Ratnakaran
19 Rafiq Ahmed 59 N.K. Ravindran
20 C.P. Aboobacker 60 K. Rekha
21 Shaji N. Karun 61 Jolly Chirayath
22 Sunil P. Elayidom 62 Echmukutty
23 Asokan Charuvil 63 C.S. Venkiteswaran
24 K.P. Mohanan 64 A.K. Jayashree
25 Anwar Ali 65 Murali Kannampilly
26 P.T. Kunjumohammed 66 Murali Nagapuzha
27 E.P. Unni 67 Shylaja Natak
28 Subhash Chandran 68 Ashraf Padanna
29 Boney Thomas 69 Dr. I. Rajan
30 Rose Mary 70 V.K. Joseph
31 Shahina K. Rafiq 71 Sister Jesme
32 Neelan 72 Prakash Bare
33 Bose Krishnamachari 73 Koya Mohammed
34 Riyas Komu 74 Chandrika Ravindran
35 S. Harish 75 E.M. Radha
36 Benyamin 76 Jayan Pakaravur
37 E. Santosh Kumar 77 Tathagathan
38 Kamal 78 C.R. Rajeev
39 Joy Mathew 79 N. Rajan
40 O.K. Johnny 80 M.P. Surendran

Statement issued by the Chinta Ravindran Foundation.