After a senior BJP leader demanded that the book on Jinnah by expelled party leader Jaswant Singh be banned across the country, only Narendra Modi's Gujarat has gone ahead and actually done that. No other BJP- ruled states have banned the book and the popular view is that if the government takes such an action it only creates a needless controversy.

On this matter, Narendra Modi is the first and the odd BJP CM out. He has banned the book, insisting its contents are ''against national interest'' and could 'disrupt public peace''

The other BJP chief ministers are reluctant to ban the book that allegedly hurts the image of party icon Sardar Patel. Karnataka chief minister, B. S. Yediyurappa, says: ''We won't ban the book in Karnataka.''

Asked about the demand to ban the book, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said he did not agree.

They may not say it on camera, but off it the demurring chief ministers argue that a hasty ban will only create a needless controversy on freedom of expression. And create more interest in the book.
Analysts point out that the other CMs do not share Modi's current political compulsions. Modi's decision, they say, may well be linked to by-elections in Saurashtra, Gujarat's Patel heartland.

Jaynarayan Vyas, spokesperson of the Gujarat government, said: ''Leaders like Sardar Patel should never be made subject matter of any controversy.''

The book, meanwhile, is flying off the shelves drawing from the massive controversy around it.