India's Largest, Oldest Press Printing Gita Shuts Shop


LUCKNOW: India'a most authentic, biggest, trusted and sustained connect for the Hindu devout with its rich past of religious literature is faced with a strike and indefinite closure. Headquartered in eastern Uttar Pradesh and publishing religious works since 1923, the Gita Press has shut down indefinitely owing to labour unrest.

The indefinite closure comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been gifting the Gita to foreign leaders and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has pitched for declaring it a "national scripture".

Gita Press, a unit of Gobind Bhawan Karyalaya registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 (presently governed by the West Bengal Societies Act, 1960) began as an initiative to "promote and spread the principles of Sanatana Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public by publishing the Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads, Puranas, discourses of eminent Saints and other character-building books and magazines and marketing them at highly subsidised prices," a member of the management told, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Ruing the decision to close down the press, located in Gorakhpur district, the official said three employees - Virendra Singh, Ram Jeevan Sharma and Munivar Mishra - have also been dismissed for instigating fellow employees.

"Information about the dismissal of these employees and of the indefinite closure has been communicated to the district administration, the police and the state's labour department" the official further informed.

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Source: IANS