After Shankersinh Vaghela, BJP seeks ban on ‘Padmavati’ – Times of India

GANDHINAGAR: Days after Gujarat’s old warhorse Shankersinh Vaghela latched on to controversy surrounding Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film ‘Padmavati’ to reap political dividends, the ruling BJP too jumped on to the ‘ban Padmavati’ bandwagon. The saffron party on Wednesday wrote to the Election Commission of India and the Chief Electoral Officer, Gujarat “to arrange for a pre-release viewing of the film by select Rajput representatives to alleviate their raised tempers and provide fair opportunity to prevent unnecessary tension ahead of polls”.

BJP spokesman and Kshatriya leader I K Jadeja said that BJP would prefer that ‘Padmavati’ movie is either banned or its release postponed in poll-bound Gujarat. “We have received representations from Khastriya, Rajput communities opposing any purported distortion of history and character of Rani Padmavati in the movie. History says that Padmavati never met Allaudin Khilji.,” said Jadeja.

Any distortion in the movie which hurts sentiments of Rajput Kshatriya community should be avoided as Gujarat is going to polls in December,” said Jadeja. The movie is set to be released early in December while Gujarat elections are scheduled on December 9 and 14 respectively.

Jadeja said that BJP leaders from the community including himself, education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, minister of state for home Pradipsinh Jadeja, Kiritsinh Rana, Bharatsinh Parmar, Jaydrathsinh Parmar, Balvantsinh Rajput among others met and jointly decided to make representation before the union government, ECI and film censor board that the film which purportedly wrongly links Padmavati to Allauddin Khilji by twisting historical facts should not be allowed to release.

The Multiplex Owners’ As sociation – Gujarat (MOAG) too conceded that ten days ago, they received a letter from Shree Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena. “The upcoming film – Padmavati – directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali tinkers with the history of Hindu and Rajput communities. It is an issue of violation of dignity of women of these communities. The release of the film is stayed in Rajasthan and if the film is released in Gujarat, it would invite strong protests against the move. There may be damage and destruction to the property as well,” mentioned the letter.

“There is still a month to the release of the film and such disputes are usually resolved. However, we don’t know what the outcome will be considering the upcoming elections in the state,” said Manubhai Patel, president, MOAG.

Last week, Vaghela had warned of violence if the movie was released. “If the movie is released without pre-screening, Gujarat will witness violent protests and law and order may go out of control,” Vaghela had warned.

The upcoming movie had earlier run into controversy after Rajasthan-based Rajput community group Karni Sena attacked Bhansali during the shooting of the film in Rajasthan. The main objection is to the depiction of romance between Allauddin Khilji and the Rajput princess.

On October 15, a ‘rangoli’ created by a local artist Rahul Raj Mall after 48 hours of painstaking effort in Umra area of Surat was vandalized by a group. The attack was attributed to the Karni Sena.

Deepika Padukone, who plays the lead role in the film, highlighted this issue on Twitter and tagged Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani in order to bring it to her notice. Five men were arrested, including four members of Karni Sena and one from Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).