TNI Bureau: Veteran novelist Salman Rushdie accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of blocking his visit to Kolkata where he was supposed to promote a new film, which is based on his novel ‘Midnight’s Children’.

Hours before heading for the UK from India, the Booker prize winning author Salman Rushdie said that he was banned from visiting Kolkata earlier this week by the West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee. He alleged that the police were ordered to block his arrival and encouraged Muslim leaders to protest.

“The police (Kolkata) gave my full itinerary to the press and called Muslim leaders, clearly inciting protest,” Rushdie had tweeted this morning.

He had earlier visited Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai to promote the film, which has been produced by Deepa Mehta.

Expressing unhappiness over the government’s politics, he said that he did not get any friendly advice to stay away from Kolkata. He was told that police would put him on next flight from Kolkata.

About his invitation to the literary meet, he said that the literary meet organisers were lying. He claimed that he was invited and he has emails and plane ticket sent by them.

However, he expressed his happiness over the warm welcome he received from his fans in India during his stay.