CAA battle reaches Kolkata book fair; posters, pamphlets too

The battle over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has reached the ongoing 44th International Kolkata Book Fair where stalls set up by the left and right wing groups have put up posters and displayed books for sale either praising or opposing the contentious legislation.

Besides books and booklets, the warring sides are also selling merchandise ranging from tee shirts, coffee mugs and posters in the book fair to promote their respective views on the CAA, the proposed nationwide NRC and the NPR.

Stalls set up by mouthpieces of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and several little magazines have displayed books on the issue.

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 are 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 on Wednesday.

Bengali books about the "inherent danger" of the CAA and NRC are kept in the racks for sale in the stall of the APDR.

The organisation has also displayed posters on environment issues in its stall.

A person manning the stall said, "We are getting lots of queries from youngsters, including college students, about the new Act."