Sonia book: Its BJP telling Cong to respect free speech

The BJP extolled the virtues of freedom of expression to disapprove of and question the Congresss objections to a book on Sonia Gandhi by Spanish writer Javier Moro.

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The BJP on Thursday extolled the virtues of freedom of expression to disapprove of and question the Congresss objections to a book on Sonia Gandhi by Spanish writer Javier Moro.

The BJP did not comment on the contents of the book,said to be a fictional account of the Congress presidents life, but wanted the Congress to respect the right to free speech and freedom of press.

But while advising the Congress and taking a high moral ground,the BJP glossed over the fact that it had barely a year ago expelled senior party leader Jaswant Singh for his book eulogising Mohammed Ali Jinnah,often riled against M F Hussain for his paintings on Hindu deities and was outraged by a movie on post-Godhra riots.

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BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad,however,saw no parallel between its sacking of Singh and the Congress objection to Moros novel The Red Sari. But he did say that the contents of Singhs book was not in tune with the ideological beliefs of the party.

In his book Jinnah: India,Partition and Independence,Singh had held Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel responsible for the partition of India and argued that Jinnah has been demonised in India.