Dubai: Fans of former Indian deputy prime minister L.K. Advani were thrilled to meet him in Dubai on Saturday during a book signing event at Borders bookshop in Mall of the Emirates.
Advani, who served as deputy prime minister of India from 2002 to 2004, signed copies of his autobiography ‘My Country My Life’, available at Borders for Dh74. The 1,040-pager was released in 2008.
On Saturday, Advani interacted with fans at the ‘Meet the Honourable Author’ event at the flagship bookstore, owned by Al Maya Group, which organised the event.
People — men, women and children — lined up to have their copies of the book signed by Advani, posing for pictures with the popular politician, who is a co-founder and senior leader of the India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).
Advani, wearing a traditional Indian beige waistcoat, was accompanied by his daughter Pratibha.
“It’s a real honour for me to see the launch of my book in this manner. My book has been launched earlier but never in this manner. This is a unique experience for me, so far as book launch is concerned. It’s a great thing for me, a unique experience for me to see all of you here. I thank you all. The credit goes to this place and the people who organised functions of this kind. I’m extremely grateful to all of you for having organised this,” Advani, 90, said.
“When I wrote this book I did not have any idea it would be graced with a function of this kind. I feel extremely pleased and grateful to all of you.”
In the book, Advani takes readers along a journey of his life — political and personal — through the decades. He describes his early life in what is now Pakistan, where he was born, before the partition of colonial British India into independent India and Pakistan. Advani also recalls how he migrated to India, his rise in politics, as well as the time spent in jail during Emergency in 1970s.
Kamal Vachani, group director of Al Maya Group, said: “We have had authors before for book signing, however, such an honourable author as Advani, a senior figure who has been deputy prime minister and home minister of India, is a great honour for us. We would like to have more books by Indian authors because of the large Indian community in the UAE, who number more than three million.”
Vachani added: “He [Advani] has promised to write more books and come more often to us.”
