Amidst the ongoing controversy over the book 'Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story', journalist Aatish Taseer on Saturday thanked historian William Dalrymple for stopping the publication of the book.
Sharing a news about the ongoing controversy, the former OCI card holder journalist, on Twitter, wrote, "PS: I know we haven’t always got on, but I’m extremely grateful to @DalrympleWill for his efforts in putting a stop to this shameful bit of state propaganda. It could not have happened without him (sic)."
William Dalrymple is a Scottish historian known for his books like - The Last Mughal, Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond. He is also one of the co-founders and co-directors of the annual Jaipur Literature Festival.
On Saturday, Bloomsbury India faced massive backlash after a poster a book launch event for 'Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story'. The poster had featured BJP leader Kapil Mishra as one of the guests of honours and this did not go down well with many on social media platforms.
Mishra had allegedly made a rather incendiary speech in the run-up to the riots, and while there had been no official sanctions against him, people were not too happy with the gesture.
After the controversy, the company clarified that its logo had been used without authorisation in the launch event that was not endorsed by it.
Perhaps deciding that this was not enough, Bloomsbury India on Saturday evening withdrew publication of the book, even as the writers, Kapil Mishra and others held a book launch event.
In an official statement that was shared with The Free Press Journal, the publishing house said that the decision had been taken "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."
