The battle over Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Bengal has its echo in the ongoing Kolkata Book fair, where Trinamool Congress, Left and RSS have put up posters and selling books to educate people about the new law.
Besides books and booklets, the warring sides are also selling merchandise ranging from t-shirts, coffee mugs and posters in the 44th International book fair to promote their views on the CAA, proposed nationwide NRC and the NPR.
Bookshops have been set up by mouthpiece of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR),ruling TMC and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),exhibiting little magazines and also books on the burning theme grippinmg the nation presently.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's book 'Nagarikatta Aatanko (Fear of Citizenship)', published by Dey's Publishing, was launched in the fair on Tuesday.
The book is being sold from the bookstore of the Trinamool Congress mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla', apart from Dey's Publishing.
"The books written by the chief minister on the contemporary issues generate great interest. There is curiosity among people about 'Nagarikata Aatanko' as well," Sudhangshu Dey,a publishing house official, said.
At the stall of the SFI mouthpiece, posters with 'Nidrito Bharat Jago' (India wake up, don't remain asleep) and 'No NRC, CAA, NPR' written on them have been put on display.
"People of all ages are visiting our stall and appreciating the posters. Many are taking the pamphlets distributed by us and buying books," SFI leader Subhajit Sarkar said.
Bengali version of the books about the "inherent danger" of the CAA and NRC have been kept in the racks for sale in the APDR store.
A person manning the stall said, "We are getting lots of queries from youngsters, including college students, about the new Act."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content