The American authorof a newbiographyof the fatherofindependentIndia, Mahatma Gandhi, has spoken out againstthebanningofhisbook in the Indianstate of Gujarat, where Gandhi was born.
But he warned religious violence which has claimed more than 850 lives since February in the western stateofGujarat, India's second-most industrialised state, could affect future foreign investment.
Over 3, 000 soldiers were sent to the western stateofGujarat, in India , in an effort to prevent widespread violence after suspected Islamic militants killed over 30 people in a Hindu temple.
Narendra Modi, the powerful chief minister ofGujarat, a state in west India, wrote to the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, that the ban was anti-farmer.