It seems we at Newslaundry aren’t the only ones who have to deal with people backtracking on commitments. This time we have found an unlikely comrade-in-grief in the founding editor of Manushi, Madhu Kishwar. Kishwar, in an onslaught of tweets on Thursday, March 27 announced that as many as two (we just had one to deal with, gladly) organisations turned their backs on promises to host a book launch/discussion of her new book, Modi Muslims and Media. To make matters worse, she was spurned by two more organisations. And nobody spurns Madhu Kishwar as everyone on Twitter knows. After all, hell hath no fury like a Madhu Kishwar scorned.

Since folks at Newslaundry are self-proclaimed “defenders of civil liberties (and) democratic rights”, we decided it is only fair we “stood (sic) up for her rights” – and more importantly, separate the signal from the noise of Twitter.

Explaining things in greater detail than the 140 characters on Twitter allow, Kishwar said that she had even conveyed to the organisers at the India International Centre  (IIC) that all she wanted was a discussion on the book. “I even assured them they could chose the attendees and I would be even comfortable with people critiquing the book to their heart’s content”, Kishwar told Newslaundry over a telephonic conversation.

“A lot of anti-Modi books have been read and launched at IIC before and this particular event, as it was planned, would have had eminent journalists like Swapan Dasgupta and MJ Akbar as panelists. So it was not a political event at all as IIC would like everyone to believe”, said Kishwar. We assume Madhu Kishwar was not privy to the recent change in job description which MJ Akbar has had when she chose the non-political panelists for her book launch.

Kishwar also informed us that IIC had initially agreed to hold the book launch. “I had booked the multi-purpose hall in IIC in Manushi’s name and had even sent a confirmation email to them as directed by them. But soon they backtracked and told me that they’d have to cancel the event, following which I called up the their director”. The director, according to Kishwar, told her that they were not comfortable hosting an event with possible political annotations with the election looming in the horizon.

When Newslaundry called the director of IIC for a reaction, we were informed by his secretary that IIC’s events review committee had found the event “unfit” to be hosted in IIC. When we insisted on knowing what makes an event suitable to be hosted at IIC, the lady conceded that the review committee thought this particular event wasn’t a good idea in the current politically charged climate. IIC, incidentally, is slated to hold a seminar on “Relationship Between Civil Servants and Politicians” on April 4 – only six days prior to polling day in Delhi. For the sake of general knowledge, the relationship between civil servants and politicians, as a subject – particularly in the recent past – hasn’t been the most indisputable if steering away from controversy was the reason for the cancellation.

Another organisation which retracted on its promise to hold the book launch is the Gandhi Peace Foundation (GPF). “As someone who follows Gandhi-ji’s ideals, I’ve always been closely associated with the GPF. Discussions with Muslims for National Integration – the organisation which had volunteered to organise the event – went very well and everything was finalised. We had even sent out invites but within hours of sending invites out, they cancelled”, lamented Kishwar. She claims that the secretary of GPF told her that the foundation’s chairperson Radha Bhatt (who’s currently in Gujarat) ordered the annulment.

The secretary of GPF, Surendra Kumar, refuted her claim, though. “We received concerned emails from many of our members. They thought the event could hurt our position as a neutral organisation and send a wrong message with the elections just round the corner”, explained Kumar. However, an official with the GPF told Newslaundry that Radha Bhatt was, in fact, not very comfortable with an event that could be seen as “pro-Modi”. “Yes, we did agree to hold the event initially but we were asked by our chairperson to cancel it”, said the official on the condition of anonymity.

The fourth and final refusal came from the Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC). Kishwar blamed “Sonia-acolyte Neerja Chaudhry”, a former president of the organisation – and someone who, according to Kishwar, had denied her membership in the IWPC three years ago  – for the refusal. Which is an accusation that a senior member of organisation calls “ridiculous”. “Neerja Chaudhry was president three years ago and so it’s an utterly baseless claim. The only reason we said no was because we are scheduled to have internal elections on April 5 and the current committee of the IWPC has been dissolved. So we haven’t been taking new bookings at all – it is kind of an election protocol”, reasoned a senior member of the organisation who was not willing to be quoted. The same member called Kishwar’s tirade against the organisation and one of its presidents very irresponsible. “She should have at least bothered to check the facts before going to town with her theory”, said the member.

On March 26, the India Habitat Centre (IHC) played host to a conference on internet freedom where a senior editor spoke passionately about free speech and how there is a growing intolerance amidst a certain section of the population. His address, typical of discourses in the likes of IIC and IHC, not-so-subtly held the recent rise of a certain political wing/party/politician responsible for the growing phenomenon of censorship in the country. The editor was correct.

Great of IHC and IIC to host such events, but not so much if they don’t practise what they allow to be preached in their precincts. It’s time we realised freedom of speech is not a one-way street if we are actually serious about it.

Freedom of speech is absolute and Newslaundry is committed to it. Every side must be heard. (Yes, that even includes criticism of people who share their initials with a certain Russian gun).

The Madhu Kishwar show, for those interested, will go on. And perhaps in a much better setting – on the lawns of Ram Jethmalani’s house on April 1. The details will be posted on Twitter, she says. Only fair that the drama ends where it began.

You can order Modi Muslims and Media here. No, it’s not free.