Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani has hailed the Aamir Khan starrer film PK as a wonderful and courageous film. Advani, who recently watched the film, says that everyone should watch it.
“Hearty greetings to (director) Rajkumar Hirani and (producer) Vidhu Vinodh Chopra,” he said. “We are fortunate to have been born in a vast and variegated country like India. This however casts on all patriots a duty to ensure that nothing weakens the unity of the country-neither caste not community not language nor religion,” he added.
Even as wisdom at last seemed to have dawned on the originator of the infamous ‘Rath Yatra’ which preceded ‘Kar Seva’, ‘Silanyas’ etc., culminating in the barbaric act of demolition of the Babri Masji in Ayodya, thus catapulting the communal forces to power at the Centre and in various States, the multi-headed monster of communalism that he incited, wittingly or unwittingly, is still prowling around in search of prey and unstoppable.
In the land of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saffron outfits led by Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Dec 29 disrupted the screening of Aamir Khan-starrer `PK’ at various places, demanding that objectionable scenes “insulting“ Hindu deities and rituals be deleted from the film, just in less than one week after BJP’s senior-most politician L K Advani had praised `PK’ as a “wonderful and courageous film“.
In Ahmedabad, protests turned violent as over 50 Bajrang Dal activists stormed and vandalised two theaters.
Saffron outfits led by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad disrupted the screening of Aamir Khan-starrer ‘PK’ at various places demanding that objectionable scenes “insulting” Hindu deities and rituals be deleted from the film.
In Ahmedabad, protests went violent as over 50 Bajrang Dal activists stormed and vandalised two theaters, Shiv and City Gold multiplex.
Miscreants burned posters outside Milan cinema in Surendranagar, where the film was being screened, and forced a shutdown of the movie hall for the day. In Rajkot, saffron activists hit the streets against the film.
Elsewhere in Bhopal, Sangh Parivar activists raised slogans against Aamir Khan and jostled with cops outside Jyoti talkies in Bhopal. Bajrang Dal and VHP have given a 24-hour ultimatum to the film’s producers for removing “anti-Hindu” scenes. “It has become a habit with Bollywood to hurt the sentiments of Hindus. They insult our gods and show our spiritual gurus as villains. Why don’t they make a film based on Imam Bukhari and his anti-national statements?” asked VHP-Bajrang Dal spokesman for central India Devendra Rawat.
In Delhi, police said they had beefed up security around several theatres on Dec 29 after violent protests at Rivoli cinema in Connaught Place on Dec 28 when miscreants smashed the theatre’s window panes. The Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, in news for its campaign to install Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse’s bust at different places, demanded a total ban on the film. “PK appeases Muslims and insults Hindus. The film promotes love jihad,” said Mahasabha general secretary Munna Kumar Sharma in a statement. Reports of protests and disruption poured in from Kanpur, Allahabad and Agra in UP.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali too has demanded that the censor board remove objectionable scenes so that communal harmony is not disturbed.
In Mumbai, Bajrang Dal-VHP workers held protests at 18 locations in Andheri, Ghatkopar and Sion on Sunday. However, the organisations are neither demanding that theatres stop screening nor that the film be banned. Not yet, at least.
The protesters broke windowpanes of ticket counters, tore posters of the film and ransacked the theatre’s offices. Eyewitnesses said the vandalism continued for about half-an-hour. The activists claimed they had resorted to aggressive methods when multiplex and theater-owners refused to stop showing the movie. They also threatened to intensify their protest if the film shows continue.
In Surendranagar and Rajkot, too, activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal came out on the streets to protest against the movie for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments. They burnt the posters of the film.
In Surendranagar, the VHP activists forced Milan Cinema Hall to shut down for the day. They reached the hall while the film was being screened and burnt the posters amid slogan shouting.
The local arm of Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad of Mumbai held demonstrations against the film ‘PK’ at 18 locations in the city on Dec 28. They claimed they were neither demanding that theatres stop screenings nor that the film be banned but, notwithstanding their claims, at least one cinema hall pulled out the film. Matterden (erstwhile Deepak Talkies) in Parel pulled the film from its theatre after protests erupted outside its compound. Employees locked the gates on Dec 29 evening while police stood guard outside. Owner Punit Shah was not available for comment.
In an editorial on Dec 30 under the heading ‘Don’t ban Creativity’, the daily ‘The Times of India’ correctly stated: “A is for aliens, B is for bans. If aliens arrived in India, would they find bans a defining feature of our culture? It’s paradoxical. While our populous diversity engenders rich cultural production, it has become extraordinarily fashionable to discover hurt to one’s sentiments and ban any cultural product not to one’s liking through intimidation. If the Censor Board clears a film, attempts to ban it thereafter are unlawful. This is as it should be. Given the amount of work that goes into making a movie and risks associated with producing it, India’s brilliantly successful movie industry will die an early death if any self-appointed censor is allowed to thwart screenings.
PK, featuring Aamir Khan as an alien who seeks God, is a good example of how Indians at large are far more tolerant than the select few who claim to speak for them. It’s become the most watched film of 2014. However, some self-proclaimed religious spokespersons have taken umbrage. Criticising, being angry is their prerogative. Vandalising theatres, violently intimidating audiences and filmmakers is not. When protests escalate into crimes, government must step in and punish the guilty.
Bollywood’s biggest hit of the year so far, Kick, grossed Rs 233 crore. PK has closed in on that figure after just its second weekend. That’s the voice of a massive audience. Yet Hindutva bullies from Ahmedabad to Bhopal are trying to silence it. Are these elements feeling especially emboldened in BJP-ruled states? An India that tells Pakistan not to be selective in its fight against terror cannot afford to be selective in its own implementation of law and order, winking at goons with the right political connections. That, after all, is exactly what Pakistan does”.
But such incidents of communal intolerance had been occurring regularly in the northern and western India for the last two decades since Advani ventured on his Rath Yatra.
Internationally acclaimed painter of India, M.F.Hussain was ‘exiled’ by Hindutva forces only to ultimately die in a foreign country away from his beloved nation. Then they targeted films, creative works of many leading writers and artists, boys and girls celebrating Valentine Day etc.,
But now the multi-headed monster of communalism is trying to rear its head in Tamil Nadu, the land of Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna, where social reformist and progressive works in art and literature have flourished with the patronage of people.
Alleging that Tamil writer Perumal Murugan’s novel Madhorubhagan has portrayed the Kailasanathar temple in Tiruchengode and women devotees in bad light, the BJP, RSS and other Hindu outfits demanded its ban and the arrest of the author. They burnt copies of the book on Dec 26 at Tiruchengode.
The book has also been translated and published in English as One Part Woman by Penguin India and it had already seen two editions.
Murugan, an author of seven novels and a dictionary of dialects of the Kongu (western) region of Tamil Nadu, has filed a complaint with the Superintendent of Police seeking protection for him and his family members. “In the last 20 days I have been receiving calls abusing me. It has disturbed me a lot. On Thursday, a group of people visited my house and wanted a copy of the book,” Murugan, who works as a Tamil Professor at the Government Arts College in Namakkal told newspersons.
The novel, Madhorubagan, Tamil equivalent of Ardhanareeswarar, symbolising the unity of Shiva and Shakti, the presiding deity of Tiruchengodu temple, revolves around a childless couple Kali and his wife Ponna.
Their predicament is discussed in the backdrop of the “traditional free, consensual sex rituals” held once in a year during the car festival of the temple in the past.
Kali, the protagonist, resists attempts to allow his wife to participate in the ritual, but in the end he is shattered after he finds her missing from home.
Kannan, the publisher of Kalachuvaudu , the Tamil publishing house which also brings out a literary magazine by that name and had published the book in 2010, said though many communities in Tamil Nadu were embarrassed by certain aspects of their history and culture that could not fit in with their present day middleclass values, no creative writer could obey the dictums of ‘fascist forces’.
“Kalachuvadu will stand by Perumal Murugan. Tamil intellectuals must get together and face this challenge,” said Kannan.
On Dec 26, more than 50 cadres, led by Tiruchengode town RSS president Mahalingam, raised slogans and tried to take out a march from the foothills of the temple to the police station. But they were stopped by Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramasamy, who asked them to prefer a complaint with the local police station.
While initially their attempt to burn copies of the book was thwarted by the police, they later succeeded in doing so in front of the local police station.
In their petition the BJP, RSS and other Hindu outfits had said that in many pages the author had denigrated Lord Shiva and the women devotees who visited the temple during the car festival.
They also specifically cited that the narratives in pages, 87, 116, 117, 118, 129 and 172 of the book were in bad taste. They demanded the arrest of both the author and publisher.
However, political parties and writers have rallied behind Tamil writer Perumal Murugan, who is under attack from the BJP and other Hindu outfits, for what they call the denigration of Lord Shiva and women devotees in his novel Madhorubhagan.
The Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artistes Association (TNPWAA) on Dec 27 organised a demonstration here, in which senior writers participated to express solidarity with Murugan.
TNPWAA general secretary Su. Venkatesan and president Tamilselvan alleged that the Sangh Parivar had sought to turn people of a particular area against a writer, hailing from the region. “Any attack on creative works and authors will only turn the clock back. Madhorubhagan deals with human relations in the backdrop of an age-old practice in a part of Tamil Nadu. It cannot be construed as an insult to women or religion,” they said and alleged that these kind of activities were on the rise after the BJP assumed office at Centre.
While CPI(M) State secretary G. Ramakrishnan spoke to Murugan and expressed solidarity, Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan, in a statement, said the demand for a ban on the novel was part of a larger design of the Sangh Parivar to convert Tamil Nadu into a land of clashes.
At a press conference, TNCC president EVKS Elangovan said: “Such actions violate the fundamental right of expression. Artistic right to express should not be stifled.”
Ramakrishnan wondered why the BJP and its offshoots wanted to ban a novel published in 2010. “No one can suppress the freedom of expression. I told Murugan that my party will stand by him,” he said.
Alleging that the Sangh Parivar was emboldened to act as the cultural police after the BJP assumed power at the Centre, he urged the State government to provide adequate security for the writer and his family.
Thirumavalavan said the Sangh Parivar had no right to interfere with the creativity of a writer, who had portrayed a tradition that was in vogue many years ago.
There are more than 50 shades of Hindutva forces virulently functioning after the BJP came to power at the Centre especially with Prime Minister Narendra Modi preferring not to openly denounce their activities. However, the multi-headed monster of communalism will not be allowed smooth entry into this land of Thanthai Periyar and Arignar Anna and polarize the society on communal divide. r
No comments:
Post a Comment