Chaos at Delhi book fair stall, miscreants protest distribution of Bibles

A group of people allegedly protested at a stall of a Christian organisation at the ongoing New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) against the free distribution of copies of the Bible.

A purported video of the incident, which took place on Wednesday at Pragati Maidan, was shared on social media that showed some men shouting religious slogans and demanding a stop to the distribution of free Bibles at the stall being run by a Christian organisation Gideons International.

Police said no complaint in the matter has been filed either by the organisers of the book fair or the Gideons International.

"There was no violence reported in the protest, nor any books were torn," a police official told PTI.

However, as per an NDTV report, volunteers at the stall admitted that after the protest on Wednesday, "they [were] afraid". Speaking to NDTV, the volunteers denied that they were forcing anyone to take a copy of the Bible or trying to convert people.

The stall was owned by the Christian non-profit Gideons International, which, according to its website, is an evangelical Christian association founded in 1899 whose primary activity is distributing copies of the Bible free of charge.

"I have been manning a stall at the book fair for 10 years, but this is the first time something like this happened," a volunteer told NDTV, referring to the protest.

The report added that in the same area where the protest was held were stalls offering free yoga classes and selling copies of the Bhagavad Gita. In addition, there were several other stalls in the same vicinity selling copies of the holy texts of Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam and Christianity.

If these stalls can co-exist, so can different faiths, volunteers at Gideon said.

The video, where one of the protesting members claimed to be the Delhi head of 'Hindu United Front', shows people arguing with him and talking about the Constitution and rights enshrined under it.

The NDWBF, home to books of almost all genres, has been hosting several stalls selling religious and spiritual books -- some of which distribute copies of religious texts for free as well.

Hindu right-wing organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), though denying its involvement in the protest, accused Christian groups and missionaries of "trapping the Hindus".

"The members protesting were not related to us directly. Distributing free books or not isn't the matter ... it is basically a question of mentality.

"It is the way they were distributing, pursuing or cheating people, denigrating other religions that's what got the people agitated," Vinod Bansal, spokesperson VHP told PTI.

The physical edition of NDWBF, which officially began on February 25 after a Covid-induced hiatus of two years, will come to a close on March 5.

(With PTI inputs.)