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.
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"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."
Men at the RSS stall claimed brisk sale of their books in the fair.
"Two booklets mentioning benefits of the CAA and busting misconceptions about it are being sold like hot cakes," one of the persons manning the RSS stall said.
Of the 4000 booklets, each priced at Rs 10, over 3,500 have already been sold since January 29, he claimed.
The RSS bookshop has exhibited posters praising CAA besides putting up pictures of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee along with former prime minister A B Vajpayee and incumbent Narendra Modi to catch peoples attention.
The NRC and the CAA also dominate the little magazine pavilion as several Left-leaning publishers brought out books and magazines on these issues.
Over 400 copies of two titles published by the People's Study Circle 'Nijer Deshe Refugee Hobo' (Will we become refugees in our own country) and 'Ei Banglar Udbastu' (Refugees of Bengal) have been sold in the past couple of days, a spokesman of the stall claimed.
In her book, the TMC supremo talks about the 'barbaric uncertainity which has gripped India in the sphere of politics-economy-society everywhere....".
"Since 1993 my books on contemporary issues have been published in every book fair, which reflects my views, thinkings, opinions everything. This year the people's movement against CAA, NPR and NRC prompted me to chronicle my views which salute the uprising against divisive politics," she wrote in the book.
The RSS booklet hails the amended Citizenship Act to provide Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
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