Netaji's daughter terms Rushdie affair as unfortunate

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's daughter Anita Bose Pfaff on Thursday termed as "unfortunate" the events that led to author Salman Rushdie's visit to the city being called off at the last minute saying religious intolerance and extremism were unnecessary. "It is very unfortunate that something like not allowing Salman Rushdie to come to Kolkata has happened. I can't really judge how his trip would have been had he come to Kolkata. Religious intolerance is unnecessary," she told reporters on the sidelines of a CII event here. She said that the country should learn from Netaji's Indian National Army how to co-exist as different communities and religious denominations.

Rushdie who travelled to Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai without any problem in the last few days, was to attend promotional activities with Deepa Mehta and actor Rahul Bose and hold a press conference here on the film 'Midnight's Children', based on his novel. On being asked her views on land acquisition, which has become a burning issue particularly in West Bengal, and in India as a whole, Pfaff said the government needs to take on board all stakeholders before acquiring land for business purposes.

Addressing a gathering on global economy, Pfaff also said that while China's business model would be successful in the short-run, in the long term India "has the advantage of democracy. India has more policies that will take it forward in the long run". She also applauded the people of West Bengal for ousting the Marxist government, saying "change is an aspect of democracy".