The Mumbai-born controversial author, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing "The Satanic Verses", was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

"Utterly horrified & shocked by the stabbing of @SalmanRushdie. Wish him a speedy & complete recovery from his wounds, even though, with a sinking heart, I recognize that life for him can never be the same again," Tharoor tweeted.

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"A sad day, worse if creative expression can no longer be free & open," he said.

Rushdie was airlifted from a field adjacent to the venue to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania where the 75-year-old writer underwent surgery.

The writer has also won the Booker Prize for his novel "Midnight's Children".

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