Gujarat, Bapu birth place, bans latest biography

GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat government on Wednesday banned Joseph Lelyveld's 'Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India'.

Chief minister Narendra Modi moved a resolution in the state assembly announcing the government's intention to ban the book in Gujarat. Leader of opposition Shaktisinh Gohil seconded the proposal.

The book claims the Mahatma was bisexual and had a German-Jewish bodybuilder lover in architect Hermann Kallenbach. Gandhian experts have panned the book and said this was a complete disregard for facts.

Modi said the writer has a distorted view of Gandhi. "The writer has hurt the sentiments of the people of the country. This attempt to defame Mahatma Gandhi cannot be tolerated and the state assembly will agree with my sentiments," he said.

Modi also said the book should be banned across the country and demanded a public apology from the author. On Tuesday, Union law minister M Veerappa Moily had said the Centre will consider "prohibiting" the book. Maharashtra industries minister Narayan Rane, too, told the assembly that his government was considering banning the book.