Click to play videoNew Delhi: Every expulsion has an equal, perhaps ever bigger reaction. This is certainly true for Jaswant Singh and his new book, Jinnah: India-Partion Independence. Launched on August 17, the book has become a bestseller in India.
Bahri Sons' Anuj Bahri says, "The sales of this book were good because of the Jinnah controversy, but the real boost came when Jaswant Singh was expelled."
Some would say Jaswant Singh, the author, has benefited at the expense of Jaswant Singh, the politician. But what's perhaps equally ironic is that the harder BJP tries to shun the debate on the book, the more popular it gets.
- The hardcover version has already gone into its eighth print
- It is estimated the book will sell around 40,000 copies by the end of this first week
- The publisher, Rupa, has also confirmed demand orders from UK and US NRIs, particularly from the Gujarati community
Ironically, while Gujarat has been the first state to ban the book - largely because of Chief Minister Narendra Modi - Gujaratis all over the world are now getting more curious about the book, all the way from Ahmedabad to London.
The book has also sold over 1,000 copies in the market across the border. The fact that a book on Jinnah has been penned by a senior politician from a saffron party has proved to be its USP in Pakistan.
Author of The Sole Spokesman, Ayesha Jalal says, "Jaswant Singh was a member of the BJP. That is something new and is making people curious about the book. Otherwise what he has said in the book is nothing new."
It seems as if the sales figures are something the BJP needs to do more chintan (brainstorming) about.
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