Publishing house Bloomsbury India said on Saturday that it was withdrawing the book ‘Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story’ from publication after the poster of an event to launch the book went viral online and faced flak.

In a statement, Bloomsbury said that they planned to release the book in September “purportedly giving a factual report on the riots in Delhi in February 2020, based on investigations and interviews conducted by the authors.”

“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,” the publishing house said in a statement.

Bloomsbury India became the center of conversation after an invitation for the book launch was circulated on social media, with Bloomsbury logo, stating that BJP General Secretary Bhupendra Yadav would launch the book with the guests of honour being BJP leader Kapil Mishra, Vivek Agnihotri and OpIndia Editor Nupur Sharma along with the authors Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerna Malhotra. 

In response to this, Bloomsbury issued a statement on Friday evening denying it was involved in the launch, saying that they did not organise the launch event. “If you have come across any event information for the above book, please note it is not being organized or sponsored by Bloomsbury India,” the publishing house had said. 

However, despite the publishing house disassociating itself, the event reportedly took place at 4 pm on Saturday.

Responding to this, Kapil Mishra tweeted: “India and the world will read it and know the Truth of Anti Hindu Delhi Riots. No Hate Campaign and Propaganda Machineary Can STOP the Truth to come out.”

Kapil Mishra made an incendiary speech prior to the riots when US President Donald Trump visited the country. At the time, he gave an “ultimatum” to the police to clear the roads of those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act. “A three day ultimatum to the police — to clear the roads and after that please do not try to convince us, we would not even listen to you,” he wrote in a tweet.

Advocate Rebecca John, who has represented several of those accused in various cases related to the Delhi riots, said, “At least 53 people lost their lives in the riots and they deserve better than this. Those who made inciting speeches or were held responsible for the violence as per the account of several victims, should be investigated for their roles and not allowed to use platforms to further their agenda. Bloomsbury said that their logo was inappropriately used but the fact is that they published the book and this, to me, amounts to further lowering of standards in public life.”

Bloomsbury was slammed by many authors, academics, activists and others, many of whom also said they would be disassociating from the publishing house in the future for any work. The publishing house’s editorial standards were also questioned, as to how such a book could be written, fact-checked and edited in such a short span of time. Investigation into the riots is still on. There were also voices who supported the book and the publishing house saying this was well within the author’s freedom of expression.

With inputs from IANS