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Another addition to List of Banned Indian Books "Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi..."

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India"Great soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle with India” by Joseph Lelyveld, is the recent entrant to the List of banned Indian Books. What’s interestingly peculiar about this Pulitzer prize-winning author’s book is that probably none, who justified the ban, have read the book; and this imposition is all based on some British tabloid review.


I haven’t read the book, but a few reviews of learned Indians who read it, plainly talks about a homoerotic relationship between Gandhi and Kallenbach as seen by the author through Mahatma’s letters. To some, the term may appear as a gamble of words, my question is what’s wrong even if Gandhi ji was a bisexual. Now, when we are changing into a nation that allows homosexuality, wouldn’t it be dramatically non-sense to question Gandhi ji’s inclination? In fact, don’t we adore our same-sex friends for their beauty, figure or physique? Does all that mean we are sexually inclined towards them? Bullshit!
Regarding the racist comment, not much is discussed online by the reviewers of the book. But, as one of the reviews says, the Book is about Making of Mahatma, it’s very much expected that Mahatma Gandhi was born a common man and would had struggled over his own way of thinking before transforming into what he’s been remembered and revered for.
Gujarat Government has banned the book, and probably Maharashtra may follow the suite. Appreciable is the move by the Government of India to confirm that the book wouldn’t be banned across the country. I feel this is the time when we should stop believing on someone’s words but strive ourselves to actually observe and decide what’s good and what’s bad. Those who have read about Hitler, criticize him; those who have read a few first chapters of Mein Kampf, wonder what kind of man he actually was; and those who have read the book and researched thoroughly on him know him very best, though with a due probability!
The book "Great soul: Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle with India” is available for pre-booking on Infibeam  and Flipkart, and already selling on Amazon as Hardcover and Kindle version.
Some good reviews of the book can be read here:

 1. Review on Hindustan Times by Indrajit Hazra

 2. Review on Straight.com by Charlie Smith

You can find a List of Banned Indina Books here.


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