A day after former union minister P Chidambaram termed the decision to ban Salman Rushdie’s ‘The Satanic Verses’ by Rajiv Gandhi-led government in 1989 “wrong”, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit on Sunday said that the minister could have corrected it at that time only.
“If Chidambaramji had thought banning these books was not correct, he could have corrected it at that time,” Dikshit said.
Speaking at Times Lit Fest on Saturday Chidambaram had said: “I have no hesitation in saying that the ban on Salman Rushdie’s book was wrong…Even 20 years back, I would have said the same thing.”
Chidambaram, who was a Minister of State for Home Affairs under Rajiv Gandhi from 1986-89, also said Indira Gandhi had in 1980 admitted imposing Emergency was a mistake.
