One of the authors of the book on the Delhi violence on Sunday said that they were going with another publisher, after Bloomsbury India withdrew their book the day before. Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story, by Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra, was to be published in September.

The book caused a controversy on Friday after several Twitters users shared a notice for a book launch scheduled for Saturday featuring Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra as the chief guest. Before the violence broke out in North East Delhi on February 23, Mishra had made a provocative speech telling the police to clear people protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act, adding that his supporters would do it if they failed to.

The purported advertisement said that BJP’s National General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav would launch the book.

On Friday, the publisher refuted claims that it had organised the launch. After being severely criticised on social media, Bloomsbury India said that it would publish the book, but will not hold any launch event for it.

On Sunday evening, Arora announced that Garuda Prakashan would publish the book. “As per people’s sentiments, we are going ahead with Garuda Prakashan. LET THE TRUTH BE REVEALED,” she tweeted.

The authors also said that Bloomsbury India’s decision to withdraw the book from publication would “invite civil and criminal liability”, and was in violation of the contract, according to The Hindu.

“Bloomsbury India signed the contract with us, approved the final draft, published 100 copies,” the authors said in a statement, reported IANS. “We distributed all the 100 copies to mediapersons, writers, authors, social media influencers to read and comment. Book launch was planned on August 22 at 4 pm. At 3:30 pm, Bloomsbury India tells us that Bloomsbury UK has pressured them to withdraw this book.”

Following the author’s announcement, the publication house tweeted: “It’s official now: Garuda Prakashan is going to bring the book of Monika Aroraji, #DelhiRiotsUntoldStory in English and Hindi both.... Thank you all for putting your trust in Garuda.”

On Sunday, at least three authors announced that they were withdrawing their books which were to be published by Bloomsbury India.

Garuda Prakashan said the book will be out within a fortnight, PTI reported.

“Garuda Prakashan is committed to an authentic narrative of Indian history – both ancient and contemporary,” PTI quoted Garuda CEO Sankrant Sanu as saying. “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.”

Also read:

  1. Authors threaten to boycott Bloomsbury India after publisher withdraws book on Delhi violence
  2. Bloomsbury India withdraws publication of Delhi riots book after outrage about guests at launch