Bloomsbury-reject 'Delhi Riots 2020' to be published in Tamil
‘Delhi Riots 2020 – The Untold Story’, the book that Bloomsbury India refused to publish, will soon appear in Tamil.
The Coimbatore-based Footprint Publications, run by a BJP leader, has come forward to translate the book into Tamil and publish it. The company said it has got the translation rights from Garuda Prakashan, the publisher that has stepped in to bring out the original version after Bloomsbury refused. The book has been authored by advocate Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra,
“On behalf of Footprint Publications, we offer to translate and publish this book in Tamil. I request Garuda Prakashan and advocate Monika Arora to consider this offer and grant us the Tamil translation rights,” tweeted SG Suryah, the publication’s director and a BJP politician.
The book claims to give a factual report on the communal riots that took place in north-east Delhi in February, based on the investigations and interviews carried out by the authors.
Bloomsbury India had offered to publish it. It, however, backed down after the authors launched the book virtually in an event attended by BJP leader Kapil Mishra and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri. Bhupendra Yadav, BJP national general secretary and a Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan, launched the book on Saturday (August 22).
Bloomsbury said it had planned to release the book in September. “However, 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. Bloomsbury India strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society,” it said.
“People have been saying that the violence was the result of a speech given by Kapil Mishra. But the investigations show how the riots were pre-planned. The book was written by an experienced advocate. We believe she would have written this book based on material evidence. We don’t want the truth to be silenced and, hence, we offered to translate it in Tamil. Garuda Prakashan has also agreed to grant the translation rights,” Suryah told The Federal.
Related News: Inside story of Delhi riots book withdrawal and BJP’s Bloomsbury links
The book will be translated by Suryah himself. He said the Tamil version will be out in two months.
Footprint Publications has published 10 books so far. Its publication ‘Inaiveli’, a collection of poems written by well-known writer Marabin Maindhan Muthiah and published in 2018, fetched the ‘Bharathiar Poetry Award’ constituted by Tamil Perayam of SRM University, Chennai.
