Salman Rushdie advises Giorgia Meloni to “be less childish and grow up”

British-American writer Salman Rushdie on Thursday urged far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to be more tolerant of criticism, saying she should “be less childish and grow up”according to media reports.

The author of Indian origin was speaking to journalists at the Turin (Piedmont) book fair, where he is due to appear on Friday alongside Italian journalist Roberto Saviano. The latter was sentenced in October by an Italian court to a suspended fine of 1,000 euros for having defamed Giorgia Meloni by criticizing her position on migrants.

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“At my own risk, I have to say that politicians should have thicker skin, because a politician today, in addition to having great power, also has great authority”said Salman Rushdie when asked about this matter. “It is therefore normal for some people to speak about them directly, even badly, using a rude word like the one Roberto used”, he declared according to the Ansa news agency. He added : “I would advise this lady to be less childish and grow up”. Roberto Saviano had called Girogia Meloni a “bastard” on national television in December 2020, when the far-right leader was still in opposition. Known for his international bestseller on the mafia Gomorra , he lives under police protection due to threats from organized crime.

Salman Rushdie has also faced death threats since his novel The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader, who called on Muslims around the world to kill him. He was attacked with a knife in August 2022 during a literary conference in Chautauqua, north of New York, by an American of Lebanese origin suspected of being sympathetic to Iran. Seriously injured, the writer lost an eye.

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Salman Rushdie is in Turin to promote The knife, memoirs in which he gives his thoughts on this public attack which brought him to the point of death. A well-known Italian historian, Luciano Canfora, was sent to court in April for defamation of Giorgia Meloni, the head of government having filed a complaint against the intellectual who had called her a “neo-Nazi at heart”.