Ahmedabad: A local court on Monday refused to ban "Fekuji Have Dilli Ma", a book in which the author, Jayesh Shah, makes the case that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not kept the promises he made during the campaign for the 2014 general election. The court said that the book contains the writer's personal opinions and it would be a violation of his right to freedom of speech if the sale of the
book were to be obstructed. The chamber judge of the city civil court, A M Dave, rejected the civil suit against Shah who argued that the book had been on sale since April and the plaintiff, Narsinhbhai Solanki, could not establish what personal damage he had suffered due to the sale and publicity of the book. The court did not accept the argument of Solanki's lawyer that the title of the book had not only offended him and hurt his sentiments, but was also defaming Modi.
The court, on the contrary, observed that the book was not a threat to the unity and sovereignty of the nation and hence there was no need to restrain the writer and the publisher from selling the book.
Last week, Solanki had filed a civil suit objecting to the sale of the book and had made Modi a party-respondent in the suit. Solanki had submitted to the court that Modi had formed the government at the Centre only two years ago and the duration was not enough to meet people's aspirations. Solanki contended that the government had three more years to fulfil its promises.
Criticizing a politician without giving a fair chance was not proper, Solanki had argued.
The plaintiff also submitted that the manner in which the Prime Minister is portrayed in the book and the epithet 'Fekuji' accorded to him was defamatory and could hurt people's sentiments.
The term 'feku' became viral during the 2014 election campaign after the Congress criticized Modi for hyping his model of development in Gujarat. The word entered the Gujarati lexicon, as it was included in an e-dictionary, 'Lok Kosh', maintained by Gujaratilexicon.com.
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