The AICC distanced itself from senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's comment that the Rajiv Gandhi regime's "ban" on The Satanic Verses was wrong. The AICC said the book had never been banned in India and only its import was stopped. Estranged Congress leader K Natwar Singh, who was a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, and Mani Shankar Aiyar, who was then in the PMO, also differed with Chidambaram's view.  Read more