Firebrand journalist and writer Sandeep Deo today served a legal notice to Bloomsbury India to terminate their rights to publish his nine books as a protest for censoring a book on Delhi riots written by rightwing writers.
Sandeep Deo called the withdrawal of the book as murder of “freedom of expression” under international pressure.
Bloomsbury had withdrawn the book – Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story – after succumbing to the pressure of left-liberal literary mafia led by self-proclaimed historian William Dalrymple. This mafia bullied the publishers alleging that it was attempting to peddle pro-state and pro-RSS agenda through the book.
Speaking to India Speaks Daily, Advocate Prashant Patel, the counsel for Sandeep Deo, said it is a right decision to withdraw the publication of all the nine books from Bloomsbury because it is an exemplary act of sacrificing the royalty running in some lakhs and sticking with the nationalistic ideology.
Replying to a query, Patel said there should not be any problem for Sandeep Deo to withdraw his publication rights from Bloomsbury because he enjoys the copy rights over his content.
“He is the owner of the content and has all the rights to terminate the agreement and opt for other publishers under Clause 20. This clause states that if, either the author or the publisher indulges in misconduct, one among them shall enjoy the right to terminate the agreement. Either party normally gives 60 days notice period,” he said.
He also expessed optimism in rightwing writers breaking the control of left-liberal mafia over publishing industry.
“Rightwing writers like Deo have emerged, who have been successful in exposing the left-liebral cabal through their books. Sandeep Deo’s decision to withdraw his books and sacrifice some lakhs has inspired other writers to take similar decisions. I think, this will lead to the emergence of new breed of rightwing writers, who would take on the left-liberal cabal by opting for other publishers,” he said.
Asked if any English writer would stand for a Hindi writer in future as Sandeep Deo did, Patel said he is optimistic about it because times are changing where people are giving more weightage to ideas than languages.
Replying to a query, Patel said Bloomsbury and authors of “Shaheen Bagh – From Protest to Movement” should be dragged to the court as the content therein attracts contempt of court.
The court clearly, in its ruling, had declared Tahir Hussain as the mastermind of Delhi riots, whereas the authors of Shaeen Bagh had claimed him to be an innocent, which is incorrect he said.
Asked if the left-liberals are champions of freedom of expression in reality, Patel said, historically, they do not believe in democracy and freedom of expression.
“The fact is – they do not tolerate alternate ideas and most of the time resort to abusive language. And they will be even ready to kill people who have contrarian views. There are many such examples in Kerala and West Bengal, where the Left ruled for many decades,” he said.
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