The battle over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has reached the ongoing 44th International Kolkata Book Fair where stalls set up by the left and right wing groups have put up posters and displayed books for sale either praising or opposing the contentious legislation.
Besides books and booklets, the warring sides are also selling merchandise ranging from tee shirts, coffee mugs and posters in the book fair to promote their respective views on the CAA, the proposed nationwide NRC and the NPR.
Stalls set up by mouthpieces of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and several little magazines have displayed books on the issue.
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 are 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 on Wednesday.
Bengali books about the "inherent danger" of the CAA and NRC are kept in the racks for sale in the stall of the APDR.
The organisation has also displayed posters on environment issues in its stall.
A person manning the stall said, "We are getting lots of queries from youngsters, including college students, about the new Act."
"Two booklets praising mentioning benefits of the CAA and busting misconceptions about it are being sold like hotcakes," one of the persons manning the stall of the RSS said.
Of the 4000 booklets, each priced at Rs 10, over 3,500 have been sold out since January 29, he claimed.
The stall also has posters praising the CAA and pictures of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee along with A B Vajpayee and Narendra Modi among other BJP leaders.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's book 'Nagarikatta Aatanko (Fear of Citizenship)', published by Dey's Publishing, was launched on Tuesday.
The book is being sold from the stalls of the Trinamool Congress mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla, apart from Dey's Publishing.
"All books written by the chief minister, who writes on contemporary issues, generate great interest. There has also been curiosity about 'Nagarikata Aatanko' as well," Sudhangshu Dey said on behalf of the publishing house.
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) were sold in the past couple of days, a spokesman of the stall claimed.
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