New Delhi: Former Air India director Jitendra Bhargava's controversial book 'Descent of Air India' will be available on Kindle from today. After its publisher Bloomsbury decided to withdraw all copies from the market, Jitendra Bhargava had vowed to make it accessible to readers in the form of a self published e-book.
Former Civil Aviation minister Praful Patel had filed a defamation case against the author and the publisher for holding him responsible for the near collapse of India's national carrier Air India.
Praful Patel's anger even forced the publisher Bloomsbury to put out an apology in a national newspaper. After his book was pulped, an angry Bhargava had described the decision as arbitrary and the publishers were under pressure from Praful Patel to withdraw the copies from bookstores across India.
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Like Wendy Doniger's book 'The Hinduism', recently pulped by the Penguin, the demand for 'The Descent of Air India' is also is also rising after its withdrawal. A small Chennai based firm has helped Bhargava to him bring it out in the form an e-book. The book costs Rs.299.
The defamation case filed by Praful Patel is coming up for a hearing on March 14 at a lower court in Mumbai. Unfazed Bhargava has decided to fight the case. He claims that he has documentary evidences to support his claims in the book.
What is surprising is the missing outrage of the media and intellectual class over pulping of Bhargava's book. The same section made a big and hue and cry over the pulping of Wendy Doniger's book.