lucknow the muslim groups staged demonstrations here after friday prayers demanding a ban on the entry of writer sulman rushdie into india the author of the satanic verses rushdie is slated to visit the fourday jaipur literary festival starting january 20 muslims in small groups carrying stop rushdie placards and raising slogans gathered outside the local mosques in different parts of the city similar protests were reported from kanpur aligarh and bareilly the protests however remained confined to those who have apparently failed to click with the common muslim on the streets despite muslim organizations like darul uloom deoband and some clerics going public with demand to ban rushdies entry into india the fact that rushdies visits to india a few times in recent years saw no protests has added to the possibilities of some vested interests trying to make his visit an election issue at least in uttar pradesh most of the muslims toi spoke to said they were not aware of protests against rushdie till it was reported in the media some expressed surprise over the provocation behind muslims in up picking up the issue so aggressively despite no reports of the writer to visit up i came to know about it when i saw a report that authorities at darul uloom have sent a letter to the centre demanding a ban on rushdies entry this was followed by some clerics from lucknow and beyond making similar demands and threatening protests in case the government refused to meet their demands protests against rushdies india visit attracted gained media attention more after union law minister sulman khurshid said rushdie qualifies for being a pio people of indian origin so he does not require a visa to visit india still if anyone has any objections over provisions that pios are entitled to he can move the court sulman khurshid told reporters on wednesday rushdie had triggered outrage among muslims the world over for allegedly presenting prophet mohammed in bad light in the satanic verses that was published in 1988 the writings were banned in india and islamic countries in 1989 the then supreme leader of iran ayatollah ruhollah khomeini had issued a fatwa against him