Stage set for Jaipur Literature Festival 2012

The annual Jaipur Literature Festival kicks off at Diggi Palace on January 20.

With crowds expected to double from last year, which means there could be up to one lakh bibliophiles in attendance over the course of the next five days.

Controversies surrounding this festival are drawing renewed interest from all quarters with rumours about Salman Rushdie's presence at the event flying thick and fast.

Festival co-founders, historian and novelist William Dalrymple and author Namita Gokhale acknowledge the change in scale of what began as a grassroots festival six years ago. "JLF is now regarded as the Kumbh Mela of Indian and international writing" reads the website's homepage, the most quoted quote in the coverage thus far.

Rumoured to read at the regal Rambagh Palace, Salman Rushdie, whether he attends or not, has already garnered the most attention in the pre-Jaipur hoopla, with Mumbai-based Sunni Muslim organisation Raza Academy reportedly offering a prize of Rs. 1 lakh to anyone "who hurls a slipper on Salman Rushdie's face on his visit to Jaipur."

On Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Wikipedia blacked out for 24 hours to protest legislation that could infringe upon the free and open internet. On Friday, Rushdie's freedom to expression could be steamrollered and the question on everybody's Facebook newsfeed is: What will JLF do?

The annual literature festival, which has grown into one of the biggest festivals in the world today, is garnering greater attention this year.

Manu Joseph, editor of Open Magazine, in his opening paragraph in a New York Times column on Thursday, January 19, 2012, compared the Jaipur Lit Fest to Lord Voldemort's divided soul.

With new mandatory registration procedures, and checkpoints for screening baggage, JLF is adjusting to the larger crowds at Diggi, and that's not just 'adjust' in the Indian sense.

Home secretary, Rajasthan Government , G S Sidhu looking at the festival venue.