CHENNAI: Members of the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India are divided over the eviction of a journalist/publisher from the book fair venue for allegedly selling ‘anti-government’ books.
In a letter to the association, vice president of BAPASI K Nagarajan pointed out that only selling books banned by the government was prohibited. There was no restriction on books criticising the government.
He argued that the executive committee of the association must have discussed the matter before the bookseller was evicted from the fair. When contacted, Nagarajan refused to comment further, and said he hadn’t received any formal reply to his letter yet. “There was no time to convene a meeting,” argued BAPASI president RS Shanmugam.
The journalist Anbazhagan, was asked to vacate his bookstall on Saturday by the BAPASI, saying he violated the book fair rules by selling books that are against the government.