'Sonia's book never banned, it wasn't allowed to publish'

Publisher Roli Books, set to release Congress president Sonia Gandhi's biography, said Friday said the book was never banned in India but its Spanish publisher had found "the atmosphere was not right" to publish it in 2008.

Written by Spanish author Javier Moro "My Red Sari" (El Sari Rojo), which will release here Saturday, was originally published in Spanish in 2008 and became an instant bestseller in the European and international markets.

However, when the publishers decided to bring it to India, they faced protests from the Congress party, which called the biography "completely imaginary and invented conversations".

"It would be wrong to say that the book was banned in India. Our publication never faced any pressure from anyone. It was the Spanish publishers who felt that the atmosphere was not right to publish the book then," Pramod Kapoor, publisher and CEO Roli Books, told IANS.

"They didn't want to publish it and I was not privy to their talks with the Congress party or lawyers," he added.

Kapoor was quick to also add that the book doesn't offer any "controversial" elements and in fact talks about Gandhi's strength and how from being a foreigner she helmed one of the most powerful positions in the country.

For this edition, the author has written an epilogue and included last year's Lok Sabha elections in which Congress party won only 44 seats in the 545 member house, with the polls being held for 543 seats.