Rumours about Kapil Mishra, an Indian politician from Delhi, being invited to a book launch of Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story as a guest of honour did a heavy round on the internet on Friday.
Twitter was furious after they heard Mishra was invited to the launch. Mishra is well known for his controversial statements and he was also one of the main accused in instigating the violence in Delhi.
"Wow @BloomsburyIndia !! how are you inviting kapil mishra who is a literal riot instigator and nupur sharma who runs the internationally discredited hate machine called opindia to a book launch!?," a user wrote.
"A new low for Indian publishing," wrote another user.
However, shortly after the news, Bloomsbury confirmed that it is not organising a launch event.
Bloomsbury released a statement which read: “Bloomsbury India is publishing the book Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story by Advocate Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar, Prerna Malhotra in September 2020. We are not organizing any launch event for the book tomorrow and there are no events being planned yet. If you have come across any event information for the above book, please note it is not being organized or sponsored by Bloomsbury India.”
Here are some more reactions:
The BJP leader is himself one of the main accused in instigating the violence in Delhi which rocked the national capital for over three days started on February 24 as a clash between groups supporting and opposing the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). 53 people lost their lives and enormous amount of property was destroyed in the Delhi violence.
Mishra also contested the Delhi elections from the Model Town constituency. However, he had to face a heavy defeat. In the lead-up to the elections, he was seen leading a pro-CAA rally and chanted slogan "Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko" for which the Delhi Police did not even file a charge-sheet.
He also made the headlines for terming the Delhi elections an India vs Pakistan battle in reference to the Shaheen Bagh protests. He also said the AAP should be renamed “Muslim League”.
