The Penguin Unpublishing Ltd

The difficult and mostly thankless art of writing a book and then getting it printed, published, and distributed among the reading public is at the very foundation of the education and growth of the human mind. The printing of books has survived 500 years of progress. If people who know, if people who invent, if people who can tell stories, and if people who can engagingly unravel their lives in words and tell us how they survived to tell the tale, keep it all to themselves, the world would not be what it is. It is here that publishing houses play a crucial role in spreading knowledge. In the modern world, Penguin Publishers, which has merged and remerged and has now become a global conglomerate called Penguin Random House, has played a stellar role. There are few in the world of reading who have never held an orange-bordered Penguin book in their hands, or imbibed its might and revelled in its stories. Penguin have given us immortal works, some of which have foreseen the dastardly ways of repression of basic human freedoms.

Sadly, and tragically, Penguin Random House India has, over the past few years, become the very reflection of those it had caricatured as thorny and dangerous men who hit at basic freedoms. Ever since the government has tried to smother dissent, Penguin has signed up to that dangerous process without offering an iota of resistance, contrary to what books are all about. Ever so willingly, bowing to pressures exerted by the ruling party, Penguin has pulled at least three books in the past six months alone. But no one could have guessed that this arbiter and upholder of all that is liberal and correct and brave and modern would pull the plug on the most awaited autobiography of recent times—Sonia Gandhi’s ‘Belonging’. Penguin editors posed questions about certain incidents and comments, including Sonia mentioning the word “jersey cow” which the PM used against her. It might have been Penguin’s way of being unnecessarily protective towards the government. A memoir is a stated truth from which future generations learn about life and history. More so in the case of Sonia Gandhi who has led an exemplary life in politics—full of dignity and silent defiance and sacrifice. It is completely unacceptable to have Penguin act as the doughty aunty of fake morality, winking at those trying to sabotage the book. Details of what is in the book, slated for a November release, are not yet known, but Penguin’s defence is convoluted and hides the truth. The problem with Penguin India has been that it has a leadership that only reads the balance sheet. It is time for Penguin to change its top rung, believe in defiance and truth or else shut shop.