New Delhi: Indian publishing house Roli Books has confirmed that it will go ahead with the release of a book positioned as a "fictional biography" on Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The book is slated for release in India in the next three to four months.
Titled 'The Red Sari' (a reference to Gandhi's wedding day attire), the book has sold 300,000 copies in Spain, Denmark, France and Italy since it was first published in 2008.
In India, the author, Spanish writer Javier Moro, has been greeted with a legal notice from the Congress party for slander and defamation. The reviews of the book by the party are not the sort a writer hopes for - "baseless", "subjective" and "patently absurd."
But the writer has now hit back, threatening to sue Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who acted as Sonia Gandhi's lawyer. Moro tells NDTV, "It (the book) is fictionalized... that means it has been dramatized but is based on researched facts and events... I think the charges are baseless...what have I said...that is insulting? On the contrary, I am thinking of suing Singhvi...he has been subjective."
The Congress asks how can a biography be dramatized. Describing the events after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, the book says, "Hindu priests refused to allow her to be present at the cremation." The Congress, in its legal notice, says this is incorrect.
Singhvi says the legal notice was sent with Gandhi's approval. "Let him (Moro) do what he likes. I am not getting into any 'tu tu main main'", he says of Moro's threat for a counter-suit.
The Congress recently previewed Prakash Jha's film, Rajneeti, and objected to some parts of the film. Director Prakash Jha has denied that the film's heroine - a woman politician - is based on Gandhi.