Indian court lifts ban on controversial partition book

NEW DELHI: A court in India's western state of Gujarat ordered the lifting of a ban on a controversial book about the 1947 partition of the subcontinent that angered Hindu nationalists, a report said on Saturday.

The book, which praises Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah and is critical of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a revered nationalist of the partition era and India's first home minister, was banned on August 19.

Reversing the order, the Gujarat high court said the ban amounted to "making a serious inroad into the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India," the Press Trust of India news agency said.

The ban "could not stand in the eyes of law," the ruling added.

The book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence, was written by leading Hindu nationalist figure Jaswant Singh, who was expelled by his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) because of his views.

Singh said he was "thrilled" with the court ruling.

"It is a matter of satisfaction" that the court has lifted the ban, he was quoted as saying.

Gujarat, a relatively wealthy state that was hit by deadly communal violence in 2002, is ruled by the BJP, which serves as the main national opposition party to the ruling Congress party.

The furore over the book goes to the heart of a sensitive debate in India about blame for partition of the British-controlled subcontinent into Pakistan and India, which sparked riots that left up to a million dead.

At the time of partition, Mohammed Ali Jinnah was leader of the Muslim League party, which had called for a separate Muslim state, and he spearheaded negotiations with Britain and India's founding Congress party.

Singh has criticised the demonisation of Jinnah by the BJP, whose ideological head, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (National Volunteer Corps), dreams of regrouping Pakistan, Bangladesh and India into a confederation.