Jaswant Singh's controversial book on Jinnah is selling like hot cakes in Gujarat after the state high court lifted the Modi government ban on it.
Jaswant Singh's controversial book on Jinnah is selling like hot cakes in Gujarat after the state high court lifted the Modi government ban on it.
Bookstores managers said that the book "Jinnah: India-Partition, Independence", has generated a lot of interest among readers and the demand is soaring by the day.
Crossword, a chain of book stores, has sold over 100 copies of the book in the city since September 4 when the ban was lifted.
"Within two to three days of lifting of the ban, we have sold around 100 copies. We have ordered more copies of the book and people have been inquiring about it," book sales coordinator Himanshu Shah said.
Another book store Landmark has placed new orders for the book as they have run out of stock.
The Gujarat government had banned Singh's book on August 19, two days after its release, accusing the book of portraying Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a derogatory manner and claiming that the contents of the book would promote enmity between different groups.
"During the ban, many people had enquired about the book, but we could not sell due to the ban. But as soon as the ban was lifted, we sold the entire stock," manager of Landmark Store Dharmesh Bhatt said.
Bhatt said that he has ordered more copies from the publishers Rupa & Co and would be getting the stock in a day or two.
The Landmark store in Vadodara has also ordered copies following demand from customers.
The store manager of Landmark Manoj Mishra said "Due to the controversy over the book there were inquiries from people but as the book was banned, we had sent our stock to Mumbai. But now the ban has been lifted we are ordering 50 copies
initially and would go for more after looking at the response."
Rupa & Co, publisher of the book said that they are receiving orders for the book from all corners of Gujarat.
"Today itself we got orders for 200 copies of Singh's book from Ahmedabad," RK Mehra, head of sales department of Rupa said from New Delhi.
Mehra said that they have sent over 5,000 copies of Singh's book to Gujarat after the ban was lifted.
"Looking at demand, we are also diverting the stock from our distributors in Jodhpur and Udaipur in Rajasthan to Gujarat," he added.
"The book by Singh mentions all the documents referred by him while writing it. It does not seem that the author has written anything on his own," Punit Juneja, a high court lawyer, who has read Singh's book said.
"I did not find anything derogatory or objectionable about Sardar Patel in the book as portrayed by the state government. In fact, Singh has made references to some diary notings and correspondence while commenting on Sardar Patel," Juneja added.
Manishi Jani, one the petitioners who challenged the ban on the book had said that the ban was unconstitutional and curtailed the fundamental rights of the citizen.
The state government however, is likely to come up with a fresh notification banning Singh's book.
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