Jaswant moves SC challenging book ban in Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh on Friday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat government���s decision to ban his book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

The Narendra Modi government had banned Jaswant's book ���Jinnah--India, Partition, Independence", alleging it was an attempt to defame the image of the country's first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel by "questioning his patriotic spirit".

"Jaswant Singh's book questions role of Sardar Patel during the partition of India as well as his patriotic spirit. This is an attempt to tarnish the image of Patel who is considered the architect of modern united India," a statement issued by the state government had said.

"It is a bid to defame Patel by distorting historical facts," it charged.

The expelled leader had criticized the ban, saying it amounted to ���banning thinking��� and likened the step to the one taken against noted author Salman Rushdie for his controversial work 'Satanic Verses'.

"The day we start banning books, we are banning thinking," said Singh, who was expelled by BJP. The controversial book lauds the founder of Pakistan and holds India's first PM Jawaharlal Nehru and its first home minister Vallabhbhai Patel responsible for the country's partition in 1947.