The organisers of the fair, Publishers and Booksellers Guild, apparently telephoned the publisher of the book, People's Book Society, to summarily cancel the booking of the auditorium.
"We were told that since the Kolkata Literary Meet ended late last night, the hall could not be prepared for our programme. But unofficially we have been told that since the book is Taslima's, and she is a banned author, it was blacked out," said Shibani Mukherjee, publisher. The book was however released at the stall a little while later by the publisher, ignoring the "insult meted out to us by the Guild."
The book was released by author Nabarun Bhattacharyan son of writer cum human rights activist, Mahasweta Devi. Among the others present were, writer Ranjan Bandopadhyay and human rights activist, Sujato Bhadra.
"All this while we were condemning the Salman Rushdie episode and now we are not allowing the release of a book by another world acclaimed writer. I condemn this move by the Guild," Bhattacharya said.
A similar sentiment was expressed by Ranjan Bandopadhyay. "I am here to express solidarity with the publisher," he said.
"I think this is gross violation of human rights. When Nasrin's book was earlier banned, I fought legally and the ban was lifted. Nasrin has not only been banned from the state, now her pen has also been banished!" Bhadra said.
Immediately after the release, a group of activists belonging to the All India Minority Forum, marched to the spot and started protesting against the release. A heated altercation happened between the publishers of the book and the demonstrators.
"Nasrin has written against Islam repeatedly. She is doing this at the insistence of the US. She will not be allowed here. We are upset that her publisher has ceremoniously organised release of her book. Such ceremony has been deliberately organised to insult our community," said Abdul Aziz, of the forum. He was accompanied by Idris Ali.
The Guild clarified its stand in the evening by saying that it had taken the decision to cancel the release firstly because the hall was not ready and also because the release might have affected security of the thousands of visitors at the fair.
"I could not risk this. We were told by this group that the release might cause trouble inside the fair. We also discussed the matter with Kolkata Police who said that the group had met senior cops at Lalbazar and vented similar apprehensions."
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