![]() ![]() It is Gandhi’s home state - the site of his ashram and the historic Salt March - and has been ruled for the last decade by the Hindu nationalist BJP, which styles itself as the defender of traditional Indian values. Slightly more surprising was the state of Gujarat’s decision to ban the book. Its most recent target was Rohinton Mistry’s novel Such A Long Journey, which it deemed insufficiently reverent of Maharashtra and Marathi culture. ![]() This is no surprise the nativist Shiv Sena is very strong in Mumbai, and the party periodically riles up its base with condemnations of books that have offended its sensibilities. The tamasha started the usual way: Maharashtra threatened to ban the book. ![]() “I’m surprised to find myself at the center of one because I think this is a very careful book, and I consider myself a friend of India,” he told the New York Times. ![]() Lelyveld he had treated the information very sensitively in the text and was surprised that he was caught up in what Indians called a “tamasha” - a spectacle. The controversy is over reports that the book depicts Gandhi as bisexual, particularly in its description of the Mahatma’s relationship with a German architect. Follow few words today on the tempest brewed up this week in the social-media teacup over Joseph Lelyveld’s new biography of Mohandas K. ![]()
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