Bloomsbury India chickened out from publishing the book, Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story by Advocate Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra, after liberal cabals came down on it for giving space to the other side of the anti-Hindu Shaheenbagh protests that culminated in the Delhi Riots.
This book is based on the CAA-NRC riots that had happened in February 2020, which caused quite a stir nationwide.
A book authored by Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra was to be released in a virtual launch with Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav launching the book and BJP leader Kapil Mishra, film director Vivek Agnihotri, OpIndia editor Nupur J Sharma attending the event as guest speakers.
However, a well-organized lobby comprising of the self-proclaimed champions of freedom of expression and those claiming to fight against a ‘fascist state’ descended down on Bloomsbury India to withdraw from publishing the book.
Congress supporter and Rahul Gandhi’s henchman Saket Gokhale, rabid Islamist Rana Ayyub, and problematic individuals like Vidya Krishnan, Swara Bhaskar, Meena Kandasamy, Aatish Taseer etc exerted pressure on Bloomsbury India.
The South Asia Solidarity Initiative, which has links to Islamists, and opposed the construction of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, also jumped the bandwagon to bully Bloomsbury India into withdrawing the book.
In a statement issued by Bloomsbury India, it stated “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.
It ironically added saying “Bloomsbury India strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society”.
Meanwhile, the book was also marked unavailable in Amazon’s website while the propaganda book written by Muslim authors glorifying the anti-Hindu Shaheenbagh protests (also published by Bloomsbury India) remains available.
Following the blatant double standards shown by Bloomsbury India, several authors took to announce their severe of ties with the publication house.
India’s Principal Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal wrote that he would never commit with Bloomsbury India to publish his books.
I have have not read the book in question & have no idea if it is good or bad. However, this is obviously not a quality control problem but about censorship.
I commit to never publish a book with @BloomsburyIndia
2/n— Sanjeev Sanyal (@sanjeevsanyal) August 22, 2020
Retired IAS officer and author Sanjay Dixit announced that he is ending his relationship with Bloomsbury India and also added that he would be sending a notice to withdraw his book Nullifying Article 370 and Enacting CAA’ due to be released on Sep 20, 2020.
This censorship by @BloomsburyIndia is unacceptable. I do hereby announce that I am ending my relationship with them, and will send Bloomsbury a notice to withdraw my book 'Nullifying Article 370 and Enacting CAA' due to be released on Sep 20, 2020. Let them paint themselves Red https://t.co/K609dLw3yN
— Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) August 22, 2020
JNU Professor and author Anand Ranganathan has decided to return the advance paid by Bloomsbury for his next book being co-authored by Sheetal Ranganathan.
1. I am appalled to see @BloomsburyIndia, publisher of two of my books, buckle under threats by fascists and withdraw the book Delhi Riots – 2020. I stand in complete solidarity with the authors.
This is an assault on Freedom of Expression and on those who cherish this freedom.
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) August 22, 2020
Author Kanchan Gupta wrote in his Twitter that Bloomsbury India always biased towards “left-liberal” authors.
Meanwhile, Garuda Prakashan has offered to publish the book once the authors reach out to them.