In an attempt to perk up prime minister hopeful LK Advani's image ahead of elections, the BJP is frantically launching regional translations of his autobiography
NEW DELHI: In an attempt to perk up prime minister hopeful LK Advani's image ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is frantically launching regional translations of his autobiography, "My Country, My Life".
The book was originally launched in March by Rupa Publishers in English and the Hindi translation followed soon. By October-end, the autobiography had been translated and released in three south Indian languages - Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.
It does not stop here. The Gujarati, Marathi and Urdu translations are slated for release in a month or two.
The most awaited is the Urdu translation. BJP's Minority Morcha president Shahnawaz Hussain has undertaken the task of getting the work published in Urdu.
This edition, say party sources, is aimed at reaching out to the Urdu-speaking Muslim community that has largely remained aloof from the party.
"The fact that Advaniji is a prime ministerial candidate has triggered more interest," Sudheendra Kulkarni, the BJP ideologue who is managing Advani's book project, told IANS.
Regional publishers, meanwhile, are happy with the sales.
"We have sold more than 10,000 copies in four months, with major demand from states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh," Piyush Kumar, director, Prabhat Prakashan, the publisher of the Hindi edition, told IANS.
Assembly elections have just been held in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and the results will be declared Dec 8.
The BJP, claims Kulkarni, is not really concerned about the sales figures since the main idea is to popularise Advani.
"The sales have been phenomenal. The book is on the bestseller list for all major publishers, but we are not really bothered about the sales," Kulkarni said.
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