Rushdie was from the era when Westerners decided that not only do they have the power to kick every Christian in the back, but also the power to ridicule and shape every non-western culture in own image. Excluded Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism of course. Because neither of those three are a threat to zionism.
There is no "Hinduism." There never was.
“"Hinduism" is largely a fiction, formulated in the 18th and 19th centuries out of a multiplicity of sub-continental religions, and enthusiastically endorsed by Indian modernisers. Unlike Muslims, "Hindus" have tended to borrow more than reject, and it has now been reconfigured as a global rival to the big three monotheisms. In the process, it has abandoned the tradition of toleration which lie in its true origins.” -Pankaj Mishra
"The term Hinduism ... [ was ] introduced in about 1830 AD by
British writers. " [Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 `Hinduism' 519 ]
"The term Hindu was first imposed on south Asian nations by the
Afghan dynasty of Ghori in the 12th century; this term was never
used in south Asia prior to the Muslim era and is not even found in
early (pre-12th century AD) Brahmanical or Buddhist texts. Such a
term and concept has no historical depth in any social, religious,
ethnic or national sense past the 12th century when Mohammed Ghori
for the first time named his conquered subjects Hindus." [G. Singh,
Sakasthan and India, Toronto, 1999, p. 20]
