Why I Am Reading ‘The Golden Road’ But Opposing Dalrymple At Ahmedabad International Book Festival

Sunday afternoons are reserved for reading and a sweet nap. But 1 December 2024 was an atypical Sunday. I compromised my afternoon sleep to go to The Ahmedabad International Book Festival (AIBF). 

I had read in the newspapers that the Amdavad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and the National Book Trust were organising an ‘international festival’ for the first time. I decided to go and check what was ‘international’ about it. 

It was your everyday literary festival where some speakers had different skin tones. As I was coming out of the event, I noticed a poster of William Dalrymple with his book The Golden Road, which informed me that he, too, was a speaker at the event.

At that time, I was actually in the middle of reading The Golden Road. I read the introduction, in which Dalrymple writes about the Indosphere and how ancient Indians used to trade in ancient Rome, and the first chapter, in which he describes the Ajanta caves and the history of Buddhism in India. However, I separated the creation from the creator right there, as I read his poster. 

The reason for doing so is Monica Arora’s book Delhi Riots 2020: The Untold Story. A book which was supposed to be published by Bloomsbury but was eventually de-platformed due to pressure from Dalrymple. 

While thanking Dalrymple for cancelling the book (through probable intimidation), his associate Aatish Taseer had termed Arora’s Delhi Riots as ‘state propaganda.’ 

Until this episode, I believed in absolute freedom of speech and was vehemently against cancel culture. This theoretical idealism quickly evaporated when Dalrymple and his fellow colleagues wielded power to prevent the publication of this book.

Why was he invited as a speaker to a festival organised by AMC and the Gujarat government in the first place? I quickly reached out to one person connected with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is known to delve into intellectual matters, however, he informed me that the invite could be a part of a ‘larger plan,’ given Dalrymple’s recent book. The argument was not convincing. So, I put a tweet addressed to Dharmendra Pradhan—the Minister of Education, under whom National Book Trust falls—asking why Dalrymple was invited.

The tweet went viral, with multiple people asking the same question to the ministry. 

Meanwhile, I was informed by my X audience that the likes of Kiran Manral, Savie Karnal, and EV Ramakrishnan were also invited along with some lesser-known leftist authors who were to be launched from this event. 

I was baffled when I discovered the history of these people. 

I pressurised my source in the Gujarat government to find out what had happened and the person responsible for this ideological hijacking.

“Every year before organising the national book festival, AMC selects a committee of experts who in turn approve the speakers,” my source told me. “But this time, as they decided to go international, this exercise was dropped off. Instead, the task was handed over to the National Book Trust, which collaborated with an agency called Media Options run by Pramod Gadhavi. This is the same person linked to the AMC official responsible for this book festival.”

I had already guessed that the entire fiasco would probably be the work of a consultant or a babu. 

I doubled down the pressure on social media. The BJP’s Gujarat unit took cognisance and it worked to an extent. The National Book Trust of India has deleted the posts and tweets inviting William Dalrymple and other apparently controversial authors. However, it remains to be seen whether the events themselves will be cancelled or not.

Given the current fiasco, in future, the central or state governments must work on the following to prevent such takeovers by hostile leftist forces:

Primo, establish an informal committee within the party or government, comprising ideologues opposed to leftist and Islamist narratives. This committee should vet all speakers invited to events hosted by ministries, consulates, embassies, government institutes, or the government itself. This pattern of inviting people only to rescind the invite upon social media outrage must end.

The government and the BJP must know at least the contours of the history and ideology of any individual they are promoting at the taxpayers’ or party’s expense.

Secondo, there should be no space for individuals like William Dalrymple, who have campaigned against the publishing of any movie or book due to ideological opposition. Those who promote cancel culture or bullying should be met with the same response. 

Along the same lines, individuals who have whitewashed the crimes of outright separatists, such as Khalistanis or Kashmiri separatists, should have no place at government events. This holds true even if they have recently changed their stance or attempted a balancing act. 

Tertio, the agencies or people who promoted or ignored heavily biased panels should be sacked or transferred to relatively ‘lesser’ departments. In this case, the National Book Trust and all other government institutions must reconsider their ties with Pramod Gadhavi and his agency.

Similarly, the financial and ideological activities of the government officials responsible should be tracked. In this case, AMC’s Assistant Commissioner is responsible for the book festival.

If government-promoted ideologues, writers, or scholars fail to fulfil their responsibilities diligently, they should also be asked to make way for others. This includes the National Book Trust's chairman and director appointed by the government. 

Quarto, believers in dialogue should be invited, even if their views differ from the majority. However, people who can provide an alternate viewpoint should also be on the same panel. 

The whole episode was mentally draining. It took more effort and time than you think to explain the scenario to politicians and convince them about the way forward. Notwithstanding the outcomes, the episode has raised awareness among Ahmedabad's political and bureaucratic circles about how vested interests can take over cultural or literary festivals. 

Before signing off this article, I would like to thank all the people—Shefali Vaidya, Anmol Jain, Abhijit Iyer Mitra, Sanjay Dixit, Meghalsinh Parmar, Lincoln Sukhadia, and many others—who campaigned to retain the sanctity of the AIBF 2024. 

Also, a big thanks to the political class of AMC and the Gujarat government (including my source), who were approachable and open to feedback despite the initial heavy public criticism.