Rushdie is also a deeply intolerant, rather pompous man. With remarkable similarity to a good Marxist, he sees himself as intellectually superior to "the masses". He views the public school system as a venue to brain-wash innocent children with his views that they will never amount to anything unless they tow the atheists' line.
He used to be different, but some of his most recent articles demonstrate clearly his Marxist' leanings and how he has closed his mind.
"It's no accident that the ruling alliance lost heavily in Andhra Pradesh and in Tamil Nadu, precisely the states that wooed information technology giants such as Microsoft to set up shop, turning sleepy "second cities" such as Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad into new-tech boom towns. That's because while the rich got richer, the fortunes of the poor, such as the farmers of Andhra, declined year by year. The gulf between India's rich and poor has never looked wider than it does today, and the government has fallen into that chasm.(snip),Rushdie opposes faith based schools:
India's business elite [code phrase for "capitalist pigs"] has hastened to welcome the Congress victory, and we shall have to see how the change of government affects market confidence. But the dispossessed of India have dealt a mighty blow to the assumptions of the country's political and economic chieftains, and the lesson should be learned by all parties: Ignore the well-being of the masses at your peril."
Rushdie, Washington Post, May 14, 2004
Salman Rushdie has condemned the Prime Minister's staunch support of Muslim faith schools. The author of The Satanic Verses warned that increasing the number of children attending such schools would not tackle Islamic extremism. And he said he feared that Tony Blair was courting the wrong leaders from the Muslim community in the fight against terrorism.
"If you look in the papers right now you have a two-thirds majority of the British people objecting to the introduction of faith-based schools and yet that is an absolutely central plank of the Government's policy," he said. "If he thinks that more religion is going to solve the problem, then not only in my view is he wrong, but he is also seriously out of step with the country."
Mr Rushdie criticised the Government for pigeon-holing Muslims for their beliefs alone. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme, "It is important to see that for most people of Muslim belief or Muslin origin in this country, they have a range of political and social interests, which have nothing to do with whether or not they are religious."
He also criticised the Muslim Council of Britain, calling its leaders "minority figures claiming to be important". He said, "I think what really needs to happen is that the very large majority of British people of Muslim origin who don't want to be just defined in terms of their religion start speaking up and creating a genuine voice, which represents the majority."
(Daily Mail, 30 August 2005)
He is right on this issue.