53 people lost their lives in the riots. Bloomsbury India Saturday withdrew publication of their new book, Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story by Advocate Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra, following a backlash.
In a statement, the publishing house said, “Bloomsbury India had planned to release Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story in September, a book purportedly giving a factual report on the riots in Delhi in February 2020, based on investigations and interviews conducted by the authors. However, in view of very recent events including a virtual pre-publication launch organised without our knowledge by the authors, with participation by parties of whom the Publishers would not have approved, we have decided to withdraw publication of the book. Bloomsbury India strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society.”
The book, based on the recent riots in the capital, attracted flak ire when news of its launch circulated on social media, further informing that it would be attended by BJP leader Kapil Mishra, film director Vivek Agnihotri, OpIndia editor Nupur J Sharma and the authors. Presence of the speakers triggered a controversy, with many saying that the publication house was furthering a communal agenda.
Authors and actors like Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, Samit Basu, Swara Bhasker tweeted on the issue.
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The problem is that the right wing in India has no/very few intellectuals so publishers feel they must publish any dross to not be seen as favouring one side over another. This is because the issues the RW has are too dangerous for any thinking person to champion.
— Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (@reddymadhavan) August 21, 2020
Bloomsbury India says it isn’t organising tomorrow’s book launch.
Official Statement @BloomsburyIndia pic.twitter.com/WRT0MwDiXA— Suhasini Haidar (@suhasinih) August 21, 2020
According to reports, Bloomsbury had Friday said that the launch event was not organised by the publishing house, and that it had no information about the same.
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