Shashi Tharoor calls Salman Rushdie 'greatest Indian writer’, says Nobel Prize overdue
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New Delhi: Politician and author Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday heaped lavish praise on Salman Rushdie, the winner of the Booker Prize, stating that the "greatest living Indian writer" should no longer be denied the "overdue" Nobel Prize.
Tharoor had just completed reading Rushdie's latest novel, "Victory City," which is centred on the Vijayanagara Empire's ruined site in Karnataka, the medieval city of Hampi.
"I've just finished Salman Rushdie's magnificent & magical "Victory City" - a fabulous recreation of the history of the Vijaynagar Empire through his magical-realist lens, brilliantly written as always, full of the verve and brio of a writer at the height of his powers," Mr Tharoor tweeted.
Styled as a translation of an ancient epic, the novel is a tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries.
Quoting the book's last sentence "Words are the only victors", the 67-year-old Congress leader, who is a bestselling author himself, said the "wielder of these words is a victor too, and 'Victory City' is a triumph."
He further urged that it is about time that the "greatest living Indian writer" gets the prestigious Nobel Prize.
"That overdue Nobel must not be withheld any longer to the greatest living Indian writer," he added.
The novelist, who faced death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old man on August 12 last year, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.
Mr Rushdie received the coveted Booker Prize in 1981 for "Midnight's Children." The novel also won the Booker of Bookers and the Best of the Booker in 1993 and 2008, respectively.
PTI input