Jaipur, May 24 (NIE): A book comprising select speeches of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, given during his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister, are to be distributed to IAS officers in Rajasthan, officials said on Wednesday. The books were sent by Gujarat Chief Secretary J N Singh to his Rajasthan counterpart on May 7. The letter, along with the books, was inadvertently addressed to former Rajasthan Chief Secretary N C Goel, who retired on April 30 and was succeeded by D B Gupta on May 1.

The book, compiled and edited by former Gujarat cadre IAS officer Varun Maira, was released by Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli in the presence of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani in March this year.

Extolling Modi in the letter, Chief Secretary Jain said, “Chintan Shibir was a pioneering initiative taken towards vibrant governance in Gujarat. As Chief Minister, Shri Narendra Modi had taken several initiatives of which Chintan Shibir was unique, without any precedent in the administrative history of the country. The meeting of minds, collective thinking, free expression of ideas and brainstorming led to the resolution of many issues faced by Gujarat.”

“It gives me pleasure to forward the copies of the book to be provided to all serving All India Service Officers allotted to your State as well as three copies each to Director General of State Level Training Institute including their library,” the letter stated.

Terming the book as “propaganda”, Congress state president Sachin Pilot said it was an “attempt to create a personality cult around a current leader, which hasn’t happened before. It is something which is being done with a political motive. Government officers should be agnostic of political party and leaders.”