Bloomsbury is the publishing house of the United Kingdom (UK). There is a headquarters in London. Its India branch 'Bloomsbury India' published a book, which is based on the riots in North-East Delhi in February 2020. Its name is Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story. Monika Arora and Sonali Chitalkar, Prerna Malhotra have written it together. But there was a ruckus about the book. After the protest, Bloomsbury decided to withdraw this book. After this, the reactions of different factions are coming.
The book was to be launched on August 22 through an online event, in which BJP leader Kapil Mishra was also to be included. He is accused of making inflammatory statements before the riots. The book was about to be launched by BJP national general secretary Bhupendra Yadav. Apart from Kapil Mishra, the three authors and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri were also to attend the program.
When the poster of this event started circulating on social media, all the writers, journalists, and activists opposed this book and Bloomsbury. It has been claimed that the book spreads hatred and targets a community. The other party claimed that the book is based on research, interviews, and facts.
After this, the debate on freedom of expression also started again. One faction said that Bloomsbury bowed to pressure and began to talk about Boycott of the publishing house. The other faction praised Bloomsbury. Someone said that every kind of book should be published, even if you disagree with it. Someone said that spreading hatred is not 'freedom of expression'.
According to India Today, Bloomsbury India said in a statement that they had planned to launch the book in September and the virtual pre-launch event was held without their knowledge. The statement said,
Following the recent Events, in which a pre-publication launch event was organized by our author without our knowledge, in which the parties were to attend, which are not approved by the publisher. We have decided to withdraw the publication of the book. Bloomsbury India strongly supports the Freedom of Speech but we also have a deep sense of responsibility towards society.
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