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Journalist Joe Sacco's latest graphic novel is about violence more than a decade ago in northern India between Hindus and Muslims. "The Once And Future Riot" came out in October in the U.S., but the publisher now says it won't sell the book in India. NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from Mumbai.
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: In August 2013, a Hindu mob killed a Muslim man in the northern district of Muzaffarnagar. In one telling, he was sexually harassing a Hindu girl. Local leaders preached revenge. By the time the violence ebbed, 60 people had been killed. Fifty thousand people had to flee their homes, mostly Muslims. More than 30 babies died, their families homeless in the bitter cold. The ruling party at the time was accused by the opposition Hindu nationalist party, the BJP, of siding with Muslims. But NNakul Singh Sawhney, who made a documentary about the Muzaffarnagar events, said the BJP incited Hindus to violence, then capitalized on it.
NAKUL SINGH SAWHNEY: They benefited from it electorally in a very big way.
HADID: Former BJP legislator Sangeet Som, who was held for months on charges of inciting communal tension after the riots, told NPR that his party won because Hindus were sick of Muslims acting lawlessly. He said there hasn't been a communal riot since the BJP won national elections a year later in 2014.
SANGEET SOM: (Speaking Hindi).
HADID: That was also when Joe Sacco began investigating that communal violence.
JOE SACCO: I've troubled people for their stories. I've spent a lot of time making them go over these traumatic events, and I have to honor that somehow.
HADID: But in India, where the riot took place, this book won't be published. The Indian Express newspaper quoted the CEO of the publisher, Penguin Random House India, as saying there were, quote, "content questions." The CEO, Gaurav Shrinagesh, did not respond to NPR's interview requests. Afterwards, Sacco said Penguin Random House India insisted he delete a conclusion he made in the book that Hindu nationalism was on the rise and that it had benefited from the communal riots. He tells the Indian outlet The Wire...
SACCO: Politicians use violence as a means of advancing themselves electorally.
HADID: Critics say tolerance for critical speech has been shrinking since Narendra Modi became the prime minister in 2014. But Sacco told The Wire...
SACCO: About four publishers have approached me from India saying, we'll print the book.
HADID: He says that pushback too says something about the country.
Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai.
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