By IANS
Kolkata : Vijay Goel, who published a book on India’s former president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, which contains a picture of Prophet Mohammed, has apologised for it.
“It was not a deliberate act,” he said in a letter to Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Tuesday.
Local reports said the New Delhi-based publisher also mentioned in the letter that he had already asked distributors to withdraw all copies of the book from the market.
“The book was prepared for us by an agency by taking some matter and pictures from the Internet. They were not aware that such pictures cannot be printed,” Goel said.
The Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque, Moulana Noorur Rahman Barkati, told IANS: “There is no picture of Prophet Hazrat Mohammed in Islam. It is unethical to publish such pictures as it hurts the sentiments of the Muslim community.”
He said such controversies create differences between Hindus and Muslims and disturb communal harmony.
The book, written by G. Parthasarthi and published about six months ago, had created quite a stir in the state that has become extremely sensitive to communal issues in recent times, especially after the protest against Bengladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen’s controversial book “Dwikhandito”.
West Bengal Minorities Development Minister Abdus Sattar demanded that the book on Radhakrishnan be banned. He wrote a letter to the chief minister, saying that publishing such a picture is “wrong and uncalled for” as there cannot be any picture of the Prophet.