New Delhi, Aug 23, 2020: Bloomsbury India has withdrawn the publication of a book on the 2020 Delhi riots following online uproar.
“In view of very recent events including a virtual pre-publication launch organized 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,” says a statement from the India unit of the British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction.
Bloomsbury India “strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society,” the statement said.
The decision came a day after being at the center of an online uproar over the recently published title, and a launch event featuring BJP leader Kapil Mishra, who had allegedly incited the Delhi riots with his hate speeches.
Bloomsbury India was the focus of social media users’ ire following an announcement of the speaker panel at the launch of the book titled, “‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ on August 22.
The book launch listed among its guests Mishra, whose pro-CAA speeches preceded the February 2020 communal riots in Delhi.
Even as several Twitter users called out Bloomsbury for including Mishra in the event, a representative from the publishing house told Newslaundry that it had no role in organizing the launch. “The authors did not inform us of this event and our logo has been used without our knowledge. We are not organizing any launch event for the book Delhi Riots 2020,” the representative said.
Delhi Riots 2020 is authored by Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra. Arora described her book on Twitter as an account of “how Jehadi-Naxal lobby planned and executed Delhi riots [sic]”.
On August 22, Bloomsbury India released an official statement to Newslaundry, saying they were withdrawing the book. The statement shared in full reads:
“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 organized 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.”
Delhi based Sudhanva Deshpande of LeftWord Books advised Bloomsbury to admit to making a mistake and withdraw the book. “Otherwise really, your reputation is in the sewer.”
Scores of activists, authors, journalists, and readers had shared concerns about what they said was a one-sided book.
Other guests of honor included Vivek Agnihotri who coined the term “Urban Naxal” to refer to intellectuals who opposed human rights violation, and Nupur Sharma, who ‘edits’ the right wing portal Opindia.
The book was launched by Bhupendra Yadav, a Member of Rajya Sabha, and national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party who had blamed ‘urban naxals’ and ‘jihadis’ for the Delhi violence. Yadav said he agreed with a demand in the book for a probe into ‘network, funding, favoring one religion.”
Sources: firstpost.com and sabrangindia.in