India was actually the first country to ban "The Satanic Verses"

MOVING TO FRONT FROM YESTERDAY--UPDATED

Longtime reader Ruchira Paul writes "that the Indian government led by the Congress Party banned The Satanic Verses months before Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa. Had it not been for South Asian Muslims rioting (never having read the book), the dying Iranian cleric may never have even heard of Rushdie's book."  She points me to this article, adding:

Th[is] piece is a bit biased against the Congress Party but the facts are mostly correct. The very first review of The Satanic Verses in the world most likely appeared in the leading Indian journal "India Today." The reviewer was a friend of Rushdie's who was given a pre-publication copy of the book. There were a few provocative quotes in the review (without proper context) which lit the fire among the South Asian Muslim communities in India and later in the UK and Pakistan. The reviewer claims that the quotes had been inserted into the piece by an editor without her knowledge! Who knows what actually happened. But we all know what ensued. 

UPDATE:   Another longtime reader, Dean Rowan, kindly sent along a link to the original India Today review.