Now Garuda Prakashan to publish book on 2020 Delhi riots
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.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
