Gandhi 'bisexual' furore
The Age
Wednesday March 30, 2011
DELHI. An American author has dismissed claims his new book on Mahatma Gandhi alleges India's independence leader was a racist bisexual who left his wife for a bodybuilder.Indian newspapers were outraged by reviews in the US and Britain of Joseph Lelyveld's biography that focused on Gandhi's relationship with German-Jewish architect and amateur bodybuilder Hermann Kallenbach.The British Daily Mail ran the headline "Gandhi 'left his wife to live with a male lover' new book claims".But Lelyveld, a former editor at The New York Times, said the book had been distorted by the press. "I do not allege that Gandhi is racist or bisexual. The word 'bisexual' nowhere appears in the book," he said in a statement.
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