Fowl censorship? Why the Indian publishing industry needs to think about its business

Nothing has shaken the literary world like news of Sonia Gandhi exiting a book deal with Penguin Random House India PRHI over cuts she was reportedly asked to make to her autobiographyThe suggested cuts claims Congress MLA and exCM of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot were likely in sections about the Prime Minister the RSS or Chinarsquos occupation of Indian territoryWhile we may never know the full truth of the matter these events have raised questions that go far beyond one book Most alarming are the concerns over censorshipGandhirsquos book Belonging A Journey of Love is not the only book deal Penguin India has backed off of recently In June reports surfaced of PRHI pulling the plug on another much anticipated title The Once and future Riot awardwinning journalist and cartoonist Joe Saccorsquos graphic novel on the Muzaffarnagar riotsSonia Gandhirsquos memoir has been picked up by HarperCollins IndiaSaccorsquos book like Gandhirsquos manuscript already has an international publisher Metropolitan Books PRHI was to distribute it in India but reportedly backed out over an inaccurate map of India and some alleged censorship requests ldquoIn the book I talk about how since the BJP has taken power Hindu hegemony has been firing on all cylinders And they PRHI said this needs to be removed for the Indian edition as it will be construed as inflammatory and causing religious offenserdquo Sacco says in an Instagram video posted on ThursdayThe graphic novel has now been picked up by independent publisher LeftWord Books Managing Editor Sudhanva Deshpande says that he jumped at the chance to possibly work with SaccoldquoCome on itrsquos Joe Saccordquo he says ldquoAnd itrsquos an important subject To our great delight he chose to publish with us If all goes well we should be in print by the end of this monthrdquoThe only changes to the book he says ldquoare some minor corrections A map had to be redone and some details had to be updatedrdquoJoe Saccos latest is now open for preorderAs for political pressure over controversial books he says ldquoAcross the industry there are many publishers mdash some small like us some pretty large mdash wersquove all continued to publish books of various ideological and political persuasions including many books that are critical of the government Of late for instance many people whorsquove gone to jail Sudha Bhardwaj and her Bhima Koregaon case coaccused Anand Teltumbde have published their prison memoirs These are all people whorsquove been critical of the governmentrdquoBut when the biggest publishers back off from such projects it ldquoputs a cross on our backsrdquo he says ldquoIt does nothing but draw attention to something nobody even objected to in the first placerdquoIn their most recent statement Penguin has said there was no external pressure on the Sonia book ldquoSo no one forced them theyrsquore admitting itrsquos selfcensorship This is worse than the Emergency when the press crawled when asked to bend Here no one is even asking Penguin to bend and yet they are crawlingrdquo says DeshpandeSonia Gandhis memoir will be out in NovemberReaders may remember the uproar in 2014 when Penguin India withdrew and pulped all copies of Wendy Donigerrsquos The Hindus An Alternative History following a lawsuit by a rightwing group alleging insult to religious sentiments A year later Donigerrsquos book was published again mdash with zero cuts mdash by another independent player Speaking Tiger ldquoWhen you publish a book you have to stand by itrdquo the publisher posted on Instagram last week while announcing a new edition of the bookThere were similar shocking allegations of censorship by PRHIrsquos legal team when it came to Telugu poet and Bhima Koregaon accused Varavara Raorsquos translated poetry collection in 202223 reportedly removing certain poems as well as words such as ldquoHindutvardquo and ldquosaffronisationrdquoJuggernaut Books has published imprisoned activist Umar Khalidrsquos debut book Fractured CommunitiesldquoThis kind of thing has been happening in the publishing industry more often in the last few yearsrdquo shares Kanishka Gupta founder of the literary agency Writerrsquos Side ldquoNow fiction too undergoes legal reads A friend was asked to change the name of a political party to a fictitious one in her novel Anything to do with Kashmir and with exbureaucrats and intelligence officers is also scrutinised But itrsquos not just publishers being overly cautious there is genuine fear of strict action by the governmentrdquoIs there a middle ground then How do you make changes in a way that the author is protected from potential legal action but at the same time the message theyrsquore trying to convey is not dilutedldquoOne has to make a distinction between censorship and valid legal vettingrdquo says Gupta ldquoIf a publisherrsquos comments make sense Irsquom inclined to tell my author to make those changes For instance Irsquom working with a public figure on their autobiography and their book has run into a legal obstacle over one chapter And I am in agreement with the publisher in this instance Why would you want your book to be injuncted even before itrsquos in bookstoresrdquoOn the other hand he mentions another of his authors who cancelled their contract with a publishing house and decided to go with another firm due to disagreements over changesA worrying pattern hersquos observed in recent years is that a few publishing houses hire external legal representatives for legal readings ldquoInhouse lawyers do this day in and day out but external lawyers may not have the experience and sensibility to understand nuance and they tend to be overcautious In such cases itrsquos important for the commissioning editor to talk to the lawyers and back the author Thatrsquos why itrsquos crucial for controversial or politically sensitive books to have an editor who has experience working on such titlesrdquoldquoFrankly I feel that there should not have been this much caution exercised for Sonia Gandhirsquos book Whorsquos going to do anything to herrdquo he addsOn Friday another giant HarperCollins India confirmed ldquoHarperCollins India will publish Belonging A Journey of Love by Sonia Gandhi The longawaited memoir will be published in India on 10 November 2026rdquoChiki SarkarMeanwhile Penguin India has come under harsh criticism including memes on its logo mdash one of them has rechristened the publisherrsquos famous mascot as another fowl altogether a chickenJust like alternative news platforms have come to the rescue of citizens amid lsquoThe Great Disillusionmentrsquo with legacy news media many authors and readers are now turning to indie publishers to take bigger swings with subaltern and dissenting voicesChiki Sarkar has seen both sides of the industry first as the founding editor in chief of Random House India then publisher of Penguin India before stepping away to build indie publishing house Juggernaut BooksldquoMost Indian publishers tend to publish a wide spectrum of politics They might publish poetry by a BJP minister this month and then publish someone critical of the government nextrdquo she saysA quick glance at the 2026 catalogues shows Sarkarrsquos assessment holds true for PRHI as well their releases this year have maintained a balance between Left and Right If anything they might be slightly more weighted to the LeftSo how does a publishing giant go from releasing two books on love jihad back to back Love Jihad by Sameena Dalwai Under a Saffron Sky by Ismat Ara to then demanding alterations to two highprofile voices like Gandhi and Sacco within weeksldquoSome bigger publishers might simply be more conservative about highprofile or politically sensitive booksrdquo Sarkar offers adding ldquoThe rest of publishing is neither brave nor cowardly I would not characterise myself as either one The only reason that itrsquos easier on an independent company is that we donrsquot have to worry about getting through layers of bureaucracy for clearancerdquoIn June Juggernaut took a gamble of its own and published Fractured Communities by the countryrsquos most prominent political prisoner activist Umar Khalid ldquoThis man is an icon I published it because I knew there are thousands of people like me who feel angry about his imprisonment Itrsquos my biggest hit of the year and is expected to sell 50000 copies by the end of the yearrdquoDespite Sarkarrsquos nonchalance just reading a book mdash let alone publishing it mdash can invite violence these days A fortnight ago in Ahmedabad students reading I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank were beaten up by rightwing groups who called the memoirs ldquoantinationalrdquoThis intolerance is exactly why publishers have a moral responsibility to stand up for different voices or bibliodiversity says Deshpande ldquoSure itrsquos a business But what does it produce Ideas How can you not be mindful of the impact on society And the bigger the firm the more privilege and legal muscle you have the bigger your responsibility isrdquoWhat does Penguin sayPenguin Random House India refused to comment on queries from Sunday midday but forwarded their most recent statement on the book ldquoSince the content of the book is confidential and under embargo there was no external pressure whatsoeverhellip Unfortunately and ultimately an understanding could not be reached on a particular issue Since we are bound by an agreement and author confidentiality is paramount to us we will not divulge details of what led to the impassehelliprdquo