Protests Break Out at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2023

A gang broke up posters, yelled chants, and removed books from a Christian organization's booth.

on Mar 06, 2023

Protests Break Out the New Delhi World Book Fair 2023

One of the major literary events of the year is the New Delhi World Book Fair, which is now taking place at Pragati Maidan. The 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Annie Ernaux is on the list of honorees.

Yet, many attendees at the book fair feel that mayhem was unworthy of an occasion of this magnitude.

A gang broke up posters, yelled chants, and removed books from a Christian organization's booth. The booth, The Gideons International, was handing out free Bibles as the explanation.

Videos of the event have gone popular on social media, and they depict a group of guys yelling at the vendor to stop handing out Bible copies.

Gideons International, a Christian organization that was established in 1899, operates the market stand.

Anyone might obtain a "Free Holy Bible", according to posters outside the booth. It was yesterday, though. The volunteers have since removed the signs and covered up any references to "free" on their booth banners.

Volunteers at the stand told NDTV that they are not attempting to convert anyone or requiring them to accept a copy of the Bible.

A volunteer remarked of yesterday's demonstration, "I have been staffing a stand at the book fair for ten years, but this is the first time something like this happened.

A kiosk providing free yoga lessons and another selling the Bhagavad Gita can be found close to yesterday's demonstration location. Other shops selling religious literature on Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, and Christianity are located across the hall.

Volunteers at Gideon claim that just as various religions can coexist, so can market stalls. Yet while discussing yesterday's rally, one feeling they all had was fear.

No complaints, according to the police.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a group of right-wing Hindus, denied participating in the demonstration. Yet it also said that Christian organizations and missionaries were "trapping Hindus".

The manner they were distributing things, going after or defrauding individuals, and disparaging other religions, according to VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal, is what enraged the populace.