Is Salman Rushdie going to be at the Jaipur Literature Festival?

Not if a number of news reports are to be believed.

The Times of India said:

A major flashpoint ahead of the Jaipur Literary Festival has been avoided with a jittery Rajasthan government on Monday persuading organizers to ask Salman Rushdie, the main draw at the book-lovers' jamboree, to call off his visit. Rajasthan chief secretary Salauddin Ahmed is learnt to have called the organizers to discuss Rushdie's presence that, sources in the state government said, would have created a huge security risk, given the threat of protests by Muslim groups.

Other news outlets have similar speculation.

The Jaipur Literature Festival's Web site does not show any event featuring Mr Rushdie as of this writing, though his name still appears on the list of speakers.

We asked Sanjoy Roy of Teamwork Productions, organisers of the Festival, for clarification. He SMSed back: *

Salman will not be in India on the 20th as per his new schedule. The festival stands by its invitation to Mr Rushdie.

Update: Our colleagues at IBNLive have a story up, in which they quote Namita Gokhale, one of the Festival's directors as saying:

"Salman Rushdie is attending the Jaipur Literature Festival but he will not be there on the opening day."

* In an earlier version of this post, I missed out on the words "on the 20th" from Sanjoy Roy's message. Apologies. And, er, I also misspelled Salman Rushdie's name in the post title. The horror, the horror.

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