New Delhi: Garuda Prakashan on Sunday said it will publish “Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story”, a day after Bloomsbury India announced withdrawing the upcoming book following outrage over a virtual pre-publication launch event featuring BJP leader Kapil Mishra.
Garuda Prakashan, which claims to promote “indic narrative”, said the book is expected to hit the stands within 15 days.
“Garuda Prakashan is committed to an authentic narrative of Indian history – both ancient and contemporary. It is sad to see that other publishers are being driven by extraneous events rather than the content of the book. We support eminent authors of the book to bring out the true picture of Delhi riots,” said Sankrant Sanu, CEO of Garuda Prakashan.
Bloomsbury India on Saturday announced that it will not publish the book after there was outrage over a virtual pre-publication launch, which it said was being organised without its knowledge.
The publishing house faced massive backlash online on Friday after an advertisement of the book launch on Saturday with BJP leader Mishra as a guest of honour did the rounds on social media.
There have been allegations that several leaders including Mishra made inflammatory speeches targeting anti-citizenship law protesters before the violence broke out in Northeast Delhi on February 23.
Bloomsbury India issued a statement saying it strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society.
The virtual event, where the book was “released” by BJP MP and national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, went ahead as scheduled with Mishra in attendance among other guests.
The authors — advocate Monika Arora and Delhi University teachers Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra — have thanked Garuda Prakashan for agreeing to publish the book and supporting freedom of expression.
They have alleged that Bloomsbury UK was pressurised by some international authors and social activists for not publishing their book.
“The book launch was planned on 22nd August, 4 pm. At 3:30 pm Bloomsbury India tells us that Bloomsbury UK has pressurised them to withdraw this book. They said that Bloomsbury UK was pressurised by international authors and other social activists who have tweeted and tagged Bloomsbury UK not to publish this book.
“These people have not read this book and without reading they have pressurised Bloomsbury to withdraw the book. This is killing of freedom of expression. It is killing of writers’ right to write. We want to tell Bloomsbury UK that black lives matter, brown lives matter too,” the authors said in a joint statement.
Publishing house Garuda Prakashan’s earlier books include “Urban Naxal” by director and author Vivek Agnihotri, “India Facts: Hindu Human Rights Report 2017” by author Mayank Patel, and “The English Medium Myth” by author Sankrant Sanu.
Also read: Congratulations liberals, for another self-goal in forcing Bloomsbury on Delhi riots book
Someone can write a book on 26/11 done by RSS and published and it is freedom of speech but Delhi 2020 can not be publish . Some people think that they are the repository of all knowledge and if they don’t like it , it means it is wrong. Shame on you to the people who call themselves liberal. Satanic versus is banned , Lajja is banned in west bengal why, do they have answer ?
When the turn comes to freedom of expression it should be for every single citizen of India not only for those, who say themselves actual liberals, having much negative facts in heart. Don’t cry and don’t say now this is the killing of freedom of expression and writers.
73 years after Independence, it is still a white man in Delhi, a British publishing house in London and a small group of Anglicised elites who want to decide what we, the unwashed, silent majority, should read.
Bloomsbury being pressured to drop the book is actually a fantastic win for those trying to present the truth. This is a clear sign that the the pseudo-liberals
now view them as formidable opponents, even in the English media which until recently was the fiefdom of the pseudos. Dirty tricks is the last resort of the pseudos who clearly are now on borrowed time.
Imagine being liberal talking about free speech and freedom of expression. Then trying to ban something that you don’t like, this is classic libtard hypocrisy .
100 %. Liberals dont care only about themselves
Just ordered 3 copies from them, thanks libt*rds you just ended up giving the book free publicity 😂😂 & supporting RW ecosystem
These so called liberals who have successfully got Bloomsbury to withdraw the book, have not identified any factual inaccuracy or factual errors in the book. Obviously the truth hurts their fake narrative.
The “liberals” have literally crossed the Rubicon. They will be hearing about this for a very very long time.
The “liberals” have exposed themselves on how illiberal they actually are. This ill-considered action of pressurising a publisher to drop a book shows a total lack of confidence in their own fake narratives!
Kudos for taking a bold decision of publishing it.
I have already ordered the book on Garuda Prakashan site.
This ladder issue was always there. Everybody will trade Indian interests and everything for US UK interests. This crisis will haunt India as it has in the past. This cultural confusion and identity will play everywhere. Brace for new controversies. Dont make Oxford press or Penguin or other publishers big in India. Where are Indian publishers you can count on.
That’s how jobs, identity, more money, more respect is created. Not by selling to Western sphere.
You are right but the Macaulayputras crave western western approval. They want to have the NYT-WaPo-BBC-Guardian credential, no matter how irrelevant and out of touch those are with India. No wonder they are in this mess.