Jaswant moves SC challenging book ban

Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat government’s decision to ban his book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the state. Singh, along with a representative of Rupa and Co, publisher of the book 'Jinnah -- India, Partition, Independence', filed a petition in the apex court against the ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government on August 19, two days after the book's launch, agencies reported. The petition said that the Gujarat government notification banning his book had no mention of the content which called for action and added that the ban was imposed without anyone reading the book. The Modi government had banned Jaswant's book, alleging it was an attempt to defame the image of the country's first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel by "questioning his patriotic spirit". "Jaswant Singh's book questions role of Sardar Patel during the partition of India as well as his patriotic spirit. This is an attempt to tarnish the image of Patel who is considered the architect of modern united India," a statement issued by the state government had said. "It is a bid to defame Patel by distorting historical facts," it charged. The expelled leader had criticized the ban, saying it amounted to ‘banning thinking’ and likened the step to the one taken against noted author Salman Rushdie for his controversial work 'Satanic Verses'. "The day we start banning books, we are banning thinking," said Singh, who was expelled by BJP. The controversial book lauds the founder of Pakistan and holds India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru and its first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel responsible for the country's partition in 1947.

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