Guwahati: The All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association revoked the membership of six publishing houses of the state for six years for participating in the Guwahati Book Fair.

Those six publishers are Bhabani Books, Assam Law House, Eastern Book House, Asomiya Bhasha Aru Software Kendra, NL Publication and Assam Publishing Company.

No member publication house or book stall in Brahmaputra and Barak valleys will do any financial and business-related activity with the six houses, a statement of the association stated on Thursday.

"The six publishing houses, which were members of the association, had violated the decision to boycott Guwahati Book Fair, organised by the Publication Board Assam. So, we have taken this stern action. They will also not be allowed to participate in any book fair to be organised in collaboration with the association," general secretary Dhiraj Goswami said.

The association had boycotted the 31st Guwahati Book Fair demanding withdrawal of Dispur's decision to distribute free textbooks from lower primary to post-graduate level. The association alleged that more than two lakh people, including publishers, wholesalers and book stall owners of the state would be left jobless if the state government implement its decision. The state government had earlier distributed free textbooks to students of class VIII and extended it to class XII this year.

"We are not against free textbooks. But instead of the state government printing books in their presses or by other publishers in Calcutta and Delhi, it can provide money to the students and allow them to buy from the market. This way, financially weak students can buy books with the government's assistance and local publishers and booksellers will not be impacted," Goswami said.

The association also criticised education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's comment that publishers in Assam did not want to sell the book written by him.

In a statement the association on Thursday clarified that Sarma's comment is totally baseless.

On January 11, the association had moved Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi seeking his intervention. It demanded continuation of the government's earlier policy of distributing books till class VIII.