No booksellers or publishers from Bangladesh to participate in Agartala Book Fair

Amidst the unrest followed by the political changes in Bangladesh, no booksellers or publishers from the neighbouring country will participate in the Agartala Book Fair, beginning from Thursday, officials said. 

The 13-day-long 43rd Agartala Book Fair will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Manik Saha on January 2 and will continue till January 14.

"After the Agartala Book Fair started in 1981, almost every year either publishers or booksellers from Bangladesh participate in the annual semi-trade book festival. In some Agartala Book Fairs earlier, publishers or booksellers from Kolkata and other cities sold Bangladeshi books. But this year, no Bangladeshi book would be available in the Agartala Book Fair,” a senior official, associated with the Book Fair, told IANS.

Leading publisher Debananda Dam said that in view of the prevailing situation in Bangladesh after the fall of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, no booksellers or publishers from that country seem to be ready to attend the book fair in Agartala.

"Considering the situation in Bangladesh, even no Indian publishers or booksellers are willing to sell Bangladesh-related books in the Agartala Book Fair," Dam told IANS.

According to the official, like in previous years, publishers and publishers from Kolkata, Guwahati, and Delhi would participate in this year's book fair apart from local publishing houses.

He said that more than 150 stalls, a little less than last year, would be set up in this year's fair.

The official said that recently protests were organised in some Book Fairs held in the districts of West Bengal after the Bangladeshi books were displayed there.

No Bangladeshi booksellers or publishers would also participate in the upcoming 13-day long 48th International Kolkata Book Fair, which would commence from January 28.

In November, a Bangladeshi trader had to close his stall at the trade fair in southern Assam’s Silchar after some Hindu activists demanded it in protest against the atrocities on Hindus and other minorities in the neighbouring country.