Delhi: Oxford bookstore cancels discussion on Teesta Setalvad's memoir citing 'volatile situation'

A popular bookstore in Delhi has cancelled a discussion on the Foot Soldier of the Constitution, the memoir of activist Teesta Setalvad citing the ‘volatile situation’ in the capital. The discussion on her recently-released memoir was slated to be held on Monday at the Oxford Bookstore in Connaught Place.

According to a report in The Hindu , the discussion between Setalvad and journalist Hartosh Singh Bal had been organised by The Caravan, Oxford Bookstore and the publisher LeftWord Books. However, on Friday, Sudhanva Deshpande, the managing editor of LeftWord Books, received an email from Oxford Bookstore saying it would be unable to host the event.

Scroll reported that Deshpande received an email from the director of Apeejay Oxford Bookstores Pvt Ltd Maina Bhagat, saying that the date scheduled for the discussion was “uncomfortably close to the forthcoming elections”, and that the situation had been “further exacerbated by the recent student protests in the city”.

“The mood in the Capital is very volatile, and I am sure that all partners would not like to entertain the remotest possibility of a disruption by external elements to mar the event in any way,” he said in the email.

Setalvad called the cancellation “shocking” and said the bookstore “may have been under some pressure.”

The venue for the discussion has been changed to Delhi’s Press Club of India.

This development comes in the aftermath of violence erupting on the Delhi University campus as a result of clashes between members of the ABVP and the AISA and days of protests and marches by students of the Delhi University.