Forget debate, PM warns Laine for Shivaji book

A month ago, Prime Minister Vajpayee had criticised the Congress-led Democratic Front government for banning James Laine’s book, Shivaj...

A month ago, Prime Minister Vajpayee had criticised the Congress-led Democratic Front government for banning James Laine’s book, Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, saying, issues raised by the American author should have been dealt with through a debate rather than the act of censorship.

Today, Vajpayee did a turnaround and warned the foreign author against playing with the country’s national pride. He also said that his government would fully back the Congress-led state government’s move to initiate proceedings against him.

Launching the saffron combine’s election campaign from Beed, hometown of state BJP chief Gopinath Munde, he said, “It is a warning to all foreign authors that they should not play with our national pride.”

Story continues below this ad

With the NCP intent on referring to its handling of the controversy during the Lok Sabha campaign, primarily to score points with young Maratha voters, clearly BJP too has been forced to get into the act.

Shivaji being a symbol of Maratha pride, the NCP has made the administration ban the book for some controversial sections dealing with Shivaji’s birth.

Today, even as the PM was making the statement, activists of the Sambhaji Brigade, who had earlier ransacked a Pune-based research institute for co-operating with the author, staged demonstrations to demand Laine’s arrest.

Donald Trump may replace H-1B lottery with wage-based selection process

World4 hr ago

Days after hiking the fees for new H-1B applications to $100,000, the Donald Trump administration has proposed to overhaul the visa process for high-skilled non-immigrant workers. The Trump administration has suggested a wage-based selection process for the H-1B programme, instead of the current lottery system.

View all shorts

Live Blog