Chennai: On April 2, Bharathi Puthakalayam – a progressive publication house in Tamil Nadu – had organised an event to release a book titled Naatai Ulukkum Rafale Baera Oozhal (Rafale: The Scam That Rocked The Nation).Authored by writer and translator S. Vijayan, the book is a comprehensive account of the Rafale deal and the controversy that surrounds it.But hours before the event, for which the chairman of the Hindu Group N. Ram had been invited as chief guest, the Election Commission’s flying squad seized copies from bookstores and imposed a ban on the event.The Hindu recently published a series of articles that shed light on the negotiation and pricing details of the deal.Later in the evening, the Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer reversed the decision and said that he didn’t know who had authorised the stalling of the book launch, as N. Ram informed The Wire. The meeting was now allowed to go ahead, he said.Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa also claimed the EC itself had nothing to do with the incident:CLARIFICATION FROM CEO TN “Regarding the seizure of books neither the ECI nor the CEO office had given any instructions. I have directed DEO, Chennai to look into and give his report immediately”— ashok lavasa (@AshokLavasa) April 2, 2019Ever-changing rules“They seized 145 copies. We see it as an onslaught on the spirit of democracy,” says publisher Nagarajan of Bharathi Puthagalayam. “It is a book on one of the most important controversies of our times, to seize it in the name of the elections and stop us from releasing it is a challenge to the democratic values of this country.”A letter from S. Ganesh, assistant executive engineer of flying squad-1 had said the book and its release violated the code of conduct.The publication house was planning to approach the Election Commission and the courts for redressal before the decision was reversed.When contacted by The Wire initially, chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu Sathyapratha Sahoo denied any knowledge of the seizure: “It came to my knowledge only now that the books have been seized and we are looking into the matter. There has been no official direction from either the ECI or CEO to seize the book or impose a ban. We will look into it and if it has nothing to do with elections, we will allow them to go ahead with the release.”Also read: Does the Release of ‘PM Narendra Modi’ Violate Model Code of Conduct?Nagarajan said the book has no connection to the elections, and that its release is purely an exercise in democracy. But the 48-page book does, in fact, appeal to voters to reject Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.“The rules are entirely different for one set of people. The Election Commission has no problem in releasing a biopic of Modi but a book on Rafale cannot be released. Also the flying squad seized all copies, which is just not right,” said writer Jeyarani, who was scheduled to receive a copy of the book at the event.Jeyarani said that the EC had repeatedly harassed the publication house, forcing them to change venues. “Finally, when they decided to hold it in their own premises, they [EC] imposed a ban on the release and threatened action.”The Rafale dealIncidentally, sources in The Hindu had also spoken about how the Central government had not taken the publication of documents pertaining to Rafale too kindly. It also stopped some government advertisements to the newspaper group.The Wire had spoken in detail to Ram about the articles and the subsequent submission by the Narendra Modi government, through attorney general K.K. Venugopal, in the Supreme Court that a set of documents concerning the aircraft deal had been “stolen” from South Block. The usage and publication of those documents, the attorney general cautioned, could be punished under the Official Secrets Act.Also read: Missing Links: The Supreme Court’s Verdict on the Rafale DealVenugopal had later changed his statement to say that the documents were not stolen.In an interview to The Wire, Ram had said:“We have not stolen the documents from anyone. We have not paid for these documents and we are fully protected by Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian constitution – the fundamental right to freedom of expression.We are also protected by section 8(a)(1) and 8(2) of the Right to Information Act which has overtaken the Official Secrets Act of 1923 – that’s what I have been legally advised.This is not the first time that documents that have been leaked – Mr Prashant Bhushan himself has done that in cases like the coal block allocation case and so on. The courts have looked into it and accepted them. So they are not stolen.”