'Will not tolerate any attempt to curtail freedom of writers'

Tripura will not tolerate any attempt to curtail the freedom of writers and publishers and any kind of protest in Agartala book fair, state Information and Cultural Affairs minister Bhanulal Saha said today.
Saha's comments came after a group of about 20 youths forced entry with a national flag in a stall yesterday in the book fair and asked the sellers not to sell a book titled 'Kashmir' by Siddhartha Guha Roy and published in 1998 by Kolkata-based Progressive Publishers.
The protesters identified themselves as members of Vivekananda Sena, the police said.
Police personnel from an assistance booth inside the book fair ground and government officials rushed to the spot and the protestors left the place after their intervention.

"We believe in freedom of speech and freedom of writers. We will not stand any instance of intolerance," the minister said.
Condemning the incident, Gautam Das, vice-president of Tripura Sanskriti Samannay Kendra, a cultural organisation, said "Agartala book fair stepped into its 35th years and we have never come across such incident..