New Delhi, August 23: In trying to give legal sanctity to a controversial political move, the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat has banned expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s book on the bizarre grounds that its contents are “against the national interest” and could “mislead the public” and “disrupt public peace.”
Clearly, Modi’s view is not shared by his party counterparts in the BJP-ruled states of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
• When asked about a ban on the book, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said: “Mera aisa koi vichaar nahin hai (I have no such intention).” State BJP vice president Vijendra Singh Sisodia said he would make up his mind (on the ban) “only after I read the book.”
• “The state government is yet to take a view, whether to ban the book or not is still under consideration”, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told The Sunday Express tonight. “No proposal for banning the book in the state has come up before the Home Department so far,” official sources said.
–Agencies