A host of scholars from India and abroad have come out against the National Book Trust’s decision not to reprint the Hindi version of Bipan Chandra’s book Communalism — A Primer . They have demanded that the NBT continue publishing the book.

“Professor Bipan Chandra was not only one of India’s foremost historians but also one of the most uncompromising defenders of the secular and democratic cause in this country. As chairman of the NBT, he breathed a new life into it,” a statement signed by the scholars said.

‘We are shocked’

“We have been shocked to learn that the very National Book Trust over which he had presided has revoked the reprint order for the Hindi version of his book…”

The signatories include Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, D.N. Jha, Prabhat Patnaik, K.N. Panikkar, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Ravi Ahuja, Mridula Mukherjee, Ania Loomba and Nivedita Menon.

“Such action by the NBT is a gross violation of freedom of views and amounts, in effect, to the assumption that communalism is now the official doctrine of the country and no criticism of it or its practitioners can be permitted,” the statement said.

NBT sources, however, say the decision not to reprint the book was part of a routine review exercise, and it did not stem from any political agenda.

They say the NBT has decided not to reprint several other books.

‘Revolutionary terrorist’

Months ago, Delhi University stopped the sale and publication of Bipan Chandra’s book India’s Struggle for Independence after complaints that it called Bhagat Singh a “revolutionary terrorist”.

While co-authors Mridula Mukherjee and Aditya Mukherjee offered to replace the term — which has acquired a pejorative meaning in recent years — the decision to remove the book from the university’s reference list stays.

‘NBT’s decision amounts to the assumption that communalism is official doctrine’