Kolkata, Feb 9: A book against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act written by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was sold out six days after it was launched in the International Kolkata Book Fair, her publisher said.
Titles favouring and opposing the CAA and the proposed nationwide NRC authored by others were also in high demand in the 12-day book fair which concluded on Sunday.
“All the 1,000 copies of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s new title ‘Nagarikatta Aatanko’ (Fear of Citizenship) were sold out this afternoon. It was launched on February 4 in the book fair,” Apu Dey said on behalf of the publishers, Dey’s Publishing.
In her book, the TMC supremo talks about the “barbaric uncertainty which has gripped India in the sphere of politics-economy-society everywhere….”
The book was sold from the stall of Trinamool Congress mouthpiece ‘Jago Bangla’, apart from the pavilion of the Dey’s Publishing.
“Since 1993 my books on contemporary issues have been published in every book fair, which reflects my views, thinkings, opinions everything. This year the people’s movement against CAA, NPR and NRC prompted me to chronicle my views which salute the uprising against divisive politics,” she wrote in the book.
Another book of poems by Banerjee, which touches on contemporary issues, had also been sold out, Dey said.
With 14 new titles released in this book fair, the number of books written by Banerjee has crossed 100.
Now she is the author of 102 books written mainly in Bengali and English. While Banerjee also has books of Urdu poems to her credit, her poetries were also translated to Alchiki, the language of the Santhals.
At the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s (VHP) stall number 370, over 6,000 booklets on the benefits of the CAA have been sold till Saturday, the person manning the stall said.
The booklet said the amended citizenship law would provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The VHP stall had also stocked titles on the Ram Mandir issue in Ayodhya and the need for scrapping the Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Both the books are also nominally priced and were in high demand,” he said.
At the Students Federation of India (SFI) stall, over 800 copies of two booklets on the proposed nationwide NRC and the CAA have been sold out on Friday, the 10th day of the book fair, one of the persons manning the stall said.
The stall is also selling tee-shirts with “NO CAA” written on it and it has become a craze among the youth, he said.
Over 1,500 copies of two titles -‘Nijer Deshe Refugee Hobo’ (Will we become refugees in our own country) and ‘Ei Banglar Udbastu’ (Refugees of Bengal) – published by the People’s Study Circle have also been sold in the past couple of days, a spokesman of the stall claimed.
When asked, Publishers and Book Sellers Guild President Tridib Chatterjee said it is not possible to give separate sales figures about books on CAA and NRC.
The Guild is the organiser of the book fair.
