A day after being dropped by Bloomsbury India amid an online uproar, the book Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story has been picked up by the publishing house Garuda Prakashan.
Garuda Prakashan made the announcement on Twitter on Sunday, 23 August, even as three authors — Sanjeev Sanyal, Sanjay Dixit and Anand Ranganathan — ended their contracts with Bloomsbury India, citing its decision to withdraw Delhi Riots 2020.
Announcement:
It’s official now: @GarudaPrakashan is going to bring the book of @advmonikaarora ji, #DelhiRiotsUntoldStory in English and Hindi both.
Pre-buy links will be shared with you soon.
Keep following us!
Thank you all for putting your trust in Garuda.— Garuda (@GarudaPrakashan) August 23, 2020
The row around the book, authored by Monika Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra, was triggered on Friday, when Twitter users began widely sharing an announcement about its launch event, which featured BJP leader Kapil Mishra among other speakers. Mishra’s speeches had preceded the February 2020 Delhi riots in which reportedly over 50 individuals lost their lives.
At the time, a Bloomsbury India representative told Newslaundry that the publishing house had not organised the event and that their logo had been allegedly used without their knowledge.
As the row around the book, which author Arora described as an account of “how Jehadi-Naxal lobby planned and executed Delhi riots [sic]”, grew Bloomsbury issued an additional statement on Saturday, 22 August, saying it was withdrawing the book. “Bloomsbury India strongly supports freedom of speech but also has a deep sense of responsibility towards society,” the statement that accompanied the withdrawal announcement read.
Garuda Prakashan meanwhile has announced that it will be making Delhi Riots 2020 available in English and Hindi.