Mumbai (PTI): Samajwadi Party on Wednesday demanded that Booker prize winner Salman Rushdie and controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen should not be "allowed to enter the country".

"Salman Rushdie's writings had evoked condemnation from the Islamic world in the past. Taslima has also hurt the sentiments of Muslims. Then why is the UPA Government giving them shelter," Samajwadi Party MP and state president Abu Azmi told reporters here.

Azmi said when the Government has banned James Laine's controversial book on Shivaji and also took action against noted painter M F Hussain for his nude paintings of Hindu Gods, then why are Rushdie and Taslima being spared.

He further said that when his party members recently protested against Rushdie's stay in Mumbai, Home Minister R R Patil had refused to meet them.

Azmi himself has been banned from entering into 14 districts of Maharashtra for allegedly instigating members of minority community.

Samajwadi Party has organsied a 'Desh Bachao Rally' in Akola on January 20 and in Mumbai on February 3, in which UNPA Chairman Mulayam Singh Yadav, SP leaders Amar Singh, Jaya Prada, Jaya Bachchan, former CM of Haryana Om Prakash Chautala, and former CM of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah will participate, he said.

The rally is being held to address various issues including farmer suicides, load-shedding, slum redevelopment, Azmi added.