At Book Fair, stall distributing free Bibles targeted by protesters

According to a volunteer at the stall, at 2.15 pm on Wednesday, around a dozen men came and started shouting at those present there.

Visuals from the spot show the men wearing saffron scarves and shouting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘free Bible bandh karo’. The group can be seen arguing with the volunteers.

The volunteers, many elderly, alleged the men tore posters stuck on their stall that read ‘Free Holy Bible’ and ‘Nishulk Pavitra Bible’ as well as a handful of books.

A volunteer, who did not wish to be identified, said: “The men accused us of converting people by forcing them to take the books. We told them that we were only distributing free books to passersby. There are others giving away free texts from other religions. But they didn’t listen.”

The volunteers claimed they approached the Book Fair organisers but were instead told not to distribute religious texts for free.

Asked about the allegations, one of the organisers said: “We didn’t receive any complaint from any stall. No such incident took place.”

The Delhi Police said they had called the book stall volunteers as well as Book Fair members, but nobody wanted to file a complaint.

“We checked the area as well, no books were torn. The group had only protested and was soon removed. There was no disruption or violence. The Gideons don’t wish to file a complaint and said the matter was sorted,” said an officer.

VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said, “We don’t think it was an organised protest against these bookstall people. A few people had found out about the Christian group and went to confront them. These groups and missionaries convert people by forcing them to take books. We don’t support this and asked them not to do the same. There was no violence or anything.”