Right-wing group disrupts reading from Doniger book in Delhi

New Delhi: Members of a right-wing group on Saturday disrupted a reading from a controversial book by American scholar Wendy Doniger after its publisher recently decided to withdraw all copies of the work from India following a row over its contents.

The reading from 'The Hindus: An Alternative History', had been organised by students and professors at the World Book Fair here. Publicised on social networking website Facebook under the title, 'Read-in for banned books', the organisers had called for people to gather outside the Penguin hall at the fair for the reading.

However, as soon as the group, comprising students, professors and academicians, started reading excerpts from the book, protesters from a right-wing outfit called 'Hindu Sena' arrived on the scene and started shouting slogans against them.

"As readers, we wanted to lodge a protest against the banning of books, but those from the right-wing group landed at the venue, snatched the books from students and also tore up pamphlets," said Brinda Bose, a DU professor and one of the organisers of the reading.

The group, however, plans to hold another reading at World Book Fair and also organise a similar session on the Delhi University campus, she said. "We had only started reading excerpts from books by Orhan Pamuk, Chinua Achebe and Premchand when a group called 'Hindu Sena' landed there," said Prashansa, a DU student.