As Britain prepares to roll out the red carpet in its welcome for Narendra Modi, hundreds of writers including Salman Rushdie, Hari Kunzru and Ian McEwan have called on David Cameron to address the “rising climate of fear” in India when he meets the Indian prime minister, and to “speak out on the current state of freedom of expression in his country”. The open letter to Cameron signed by 200 writers – including Val McDermid, Neel Mukherjee, Marina Lewycka, David Lodge, Owen Sheers and Francesca Simon – highlights the “growing intolerance and violence towards critical voices who challenge orthodoxy or fundamentalism in India”. Read more
