My book brings India and Pakistan closer: Jaswant Singh

Bangalore, Sep 13 (ANI): Former Union Minister and author of the controversial book 'Jinnah: India-Partition Independence,' Jaswant Singh, said here on Saturday that his book will bring India and Pakistan closer.

Speaking after releasing his book to the Bangalore market Singh said : "I find the response from Pakistan very encouraging, I am very hopeful of good relations between India and Pakistan."

Singh was expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in August after the party felt that the views expressed by Singh in the book were against party ideology.

But Singh's book sales have soared in Pakistan.

"We have so far sold 30,000 copies till this afternoon and this is an extraordinary response we got from Pakistan in the last 20 days. There is a continuous interest and the kind of reviews that have appeared is bringing sales for us. It is the first time that an Indian politician has written a book on Jinnah, so friends in Pakistan are liking it most," said Kapisha Mehta, Managing Director of Rupa and Company.

The sacking of Singh, who held the ministries of Foreign, Finance and Defence in the NDA regime, shows that the party could be leaning to an unbending radical agenda.

The party has been debating its future-whether its Hindu-revivalist agenda, once its passport to power, was now irrelevant for younger voters. (ANI)