Ending the suspense, Jaipur Literature Festival organisers on Tuesday cancelled the video session with controversial author Salman Rushdie after the owners of the venue refused to hold the event citing security concerns.

The Rushdie session -- Midnight's Child -- was planned for 1545 hours where the India-born author was expected to discuss his childhood, his work, problems faced in the past years and the adaptation of his novel Midnight's Children into a film.

But Ram Pratap Singh Diggi, owner of Diggi Palace, venue of the Jaipur LitFest, came on stage to announce that he had decided to call off the video uplink with Rushdie because of security concerns. "A large number of people were unhappy with the uplink, they were marching on the Diggi Palace, violence has been threatened, and the uplink was called off for the sake of the security of the property, the attendees, and our children."

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The delegation of 30 people, who had come to speak to the organisers, also offered namaz at the venue, right opposite the front lawns where the video conferencing was scheduled to take place.

The 65-year-old author's Satanic Verses has been banned in India for allegedly hurting the sentiments of the Muslim community. The book cast a shadow on the Festival when four authors read out passages from it leading to complaints against them and the organisers in courts in Jaipur and Ajmer.

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