At last, Advani gets an Urdu publisher for his autobiography

At last, LK Advani's autobiography has been published in Urdu. He wanted to appear in print much before the elections.

But Advani couldn't get an Urdu publisher then. Most were reluctant to associate themselves with the book. Personally I feel the reason is that majority of Urdu publishers are now in business just because of sale of religious books, which are still sold in large numbers, rather than literature or other books--they might have feared reaction by associating themselves to Advani.

Delhi-based Urdu daily Hindustan Express extensively covered the event. It says that when a prominent Muslim leader of BJP tried hard to convince a well-known Urdu publisher, he agreed but on the condition that the name of the publication house would not be printed in the book. Naturally, the idea was dropped because it was thought that if a book is published without publisher's name and address, it would look undignified.

Telugu, Hindu and English editions of the book had been released during the ad blitz projecting him as Prime Minister. The aim was to reach out to Muslims but it couldn't happen. Now the book--Mera Watan, Meri Zindagi [My Country, My Life] has finally been released.

Speaking on the occasion Advani himself said that though the book has been translated in many languages, the Urdu edition has been the most important one and close to his heart. He also spoke on 'secularim', 'Hindu-Muslim harmon' and a lot.

Journalists MJ Akbar, Aziz Burney, Poet Chandrabhan Khayal, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, Najma Heptullah, Rajnath Singh and editor of Akhbar-e-Mashriq Waseemul Haq were present. At the function, Rajnath Singh, said that expressed his love for Urdu.

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan presided over the function. Aziz Burney lauded the book and said that it resembled with Maulana Azad's writings, reports Hindustan Express. Large number of Shia and Sunni scholars attended the event at FICCI auditorium. [Photo courtesy Hindustan Express]