A lawyer in Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh state has filed a civil suit against former US President Barack Obama's latest book 'The Promised Land' in which he has mentioned Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, a former Indian prime minister.

The lawyer has demanded an FIR be lodged as the book that "insults" the leaders and hurts the sentiments of their followers.

Gyan Prakash Shukla, national president of All India Rural Bar Association, has filed the civil suit in the Lalganj Civil Court.

The case has been scheduled for hearing on December 1.

The lawyer has alleged in his petition that what Obama has said about Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi is humiliating and an attack on the sovereignty of the country.

He has claimed that there are millions of supporters of these leaders and they feel hurt by the remarks made in Obama's book.

The lawyer has also said that if the followers of the Congress leaders take to the streets to protest against the book, it might lead to chaos.

The lawyer said that if an FIR is not lodged, he will go on a fast outside the US embassy.

In his memoir, Barack Obama has said that Sonia Gandhi picked Manmohan Singh to be the Prime Minister because he posed no threat to her son Rahul Gandhi, whom she was grooming to be her heir.

Obama has remembered Manmohan Singh as a "man with uncommon wisdom" and he has also mentioned that Singh owed his position to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
(IANS)