Burn Laine’s book, says Thackeray

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray ordered party workers to burn James Laine’s biography of Shivaji, which allegedly has derogatory comments on the Maratha king.

Thackeray slammed the Maharashtra government for lifting the ban imposed on the book Shivaji – The Hindu King in Muslim India.

"If this book comes out in the market, burn it wherever you find it. This is my order," Thackeray was quoted as saying in the party mouthpiece Samna.

The high court decision lifting the ban on the book had "crushed Maharashtrian pride", he claimed when a full bench of Bombay High Court last week quashed a notification banning the book, reported PTI.

The book was banned in 2004 following violent protests and the ransacking of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune, where Laine had done some of his research.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had quashed the criminal proceedings against Laine, an American historian and professor, against whom the Maharashtra police had filed an FIR for "defaming" Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji and "attempting to disturb the communal peace and harmony" through his controversial book.

The order came two years after the SC had stayed the probe by the Mumbai police against Laine and the Oxford Printing Press.

The book was released in India in 2003, but it had to be withdrawn from circulation subsequently in the wake of strong protests.

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