New Delhi: It wasn’t just the widespread outrage among the Sikh community, the legal notice to the production house from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) or the pushback from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) that led the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to ask for more changes to Kangana Ranaut’s film Emergency. Notes of caution from Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders also played a part, ThePrint has learnt.
BJP Punjab general secretary Jagmohan Singh Raju wrote a letter this week to information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw requesting more due diligence of the movie’s content before giving it a certification, sources told ThePrint.
The information ministry body has withheld the certification despite having cleared the film with minimal cuts earlier. A source in the BJP said, “The board has instructed Kangana’s team to make more changes and it is reviewing the contents of the film diligently to avoid hurting the sentiments of any community after objections from the Sikh community.”
Ranaut was already facing heat over her various controversial comments on the farmers’ protests, particularly in poll-bound Haryana—where the Bharatiya Kisan Union issued a warning to her to apologise or face consequences. This has led the BJP to distance itself from her statements. Sikhs constitute 5 percent of Haryana’s population.
On Friday, Ranaut disclosed that the movie’s certification had been withheld in a video posted on her social media accounts. “There have been rumours circulating that my film Emergency has been certified by the Censor Board. This is not true. While our film did receive clearance from the CBFC, the certification was delayed due to numerous death threats against members of the censor board,” she said in Hindi in the video.
“This has put pressure on us not to depict the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi, (Sikh militant Jarnail Singh) Bhindrawale, and the Punjab riots in the film. This raises the question—what can I actually show in the film? Should the film black out all of a sudden? This is an unbelievable time for me and I feel sorry about the state of things in this country,” the actor added.
According to records on the CBFC website Friday, the film had been earlier cleared after a few modifications, including the need to add warnings on smoking, to mute a “derogatory” word yelled out from a crowd following the “death of a public leader”, and to replace the term “Mr President” with the Hindi version, “Rashtrapati ji”.
For segments containing a statement from former US president Richard Nixon and the archival footage from Operation Blue Star, among other things, the CBFC has asked for documentation.
The trailer of the movie kicked off the controversy by depicting the slain militant Bhindranwale working alongside former prime minister Indira Gandhi, promising to bring in votes for her Congress party in exchange for a separate Sikh state. Sikh bodies demanded a ban on the film soon after the trailer was released 14 August.
Also Read: Kangana’s ‘rape & dead bodies’ remarks on farmers’ agitation land BJP in soup in poll-bound Haryana
Outrage from Punjab to Telangana
On Friday, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s adviser Mohammed Ali Shabbir held a meeting with a Sikh delegation and assured them that the state may consider a ban on the film.
SAD’s Delhi unit sent legal notices to Ranaut’s production house Friday for allegedly depicting inaccurate historical facts. In the notice, SAD (Delhi) chief Parmjit Singh Sarna wrote, “During the Emergency, SAD sardar Harchand Singh Longowal played a significant role in opposing the Emergency. The film neglects such contributions and instead portrays [the] Sikh community in a negative and unjust manner”.
“Such depictions are not only misleading, but also deeply offensive and damaging to the social fabric of Punjab and nation,” it further added. “It is apparent that Kangana, who is known for her anti-Sikh stand has chosen the subject not to make genuine political or historical statements against Congress but to target the Sikh community.”
A senior Punjab BJP leader told ThePrint: “We are not against the film as the party expected that a film on the Emergency would portray the Congress in a bad light and the BJP would gain a perceptional advantage. But a few scenes in the movie that cast aspersions on the Sikh community are not good for the party.”
“The party (BJP) has heavily invested in Sikh community. From the prime minister visiting gurdwaraa and waiving tax on langars (Sikh community kitchens) to opening the Kartarpur Corridor and celebrating Guru Nanak ji’s (founder of Sikhism) 500th Prakash Parv across world, the BJP has made serious efforts to build a bond with the Sikh community,” he added.
“The farm laws were scrapped. It was a major goof-up, but the Centre realised its mistake. The party cannot take the risk of alienating the community again over one film, particularly at the time of assembly elections,” he said.
Senior Punjab BJP leader Harjot Singh Grewal said, “The government should recheck the content of the film before giving certification. It should not promote animosity and reopen the wounds of a community.”
Another BJP leader from Haryana, said, “Already, through her statement on the farm protests, Kangana has outraged the sentiments of the farming community. The Jats are against BJP and making another farming community angry can hurt the party. The party has to be careful in dealing with her statement and her film.”
‘BJP should clarify stand’
The SPGC’s statement also added to the pressure on the party. SGPC member Gurcharan Singh Grewal said in a video message on Facebook Tuesday that Bhindranwale had been projected in the wrong light.
“Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale holds an exalted position in Sikhism and is considered to be a spiritually advanced human being,” said Gurcharan Singh Grewal.
“While we welcome the making of films based on historical facts, we strongly oppose the manner in which the Sikh community has been made to look in this film. The film’s trailer clearly showed Sikhs as an unfair, cruel, and violent community,” he added.
SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal called on the BJP to clarify its stand on the movie and criticised the actor over how the Sikh community had been depicted.
“It’s unfortunate that she (Kangana) is an MP of the BJP, and the BJP should clarify if whatever she is portraying is the party’s stand on the issue as well,” she said. “The Sikhs have played a stellar role in the history of this country, whether it was the freedom struggle, the grain surplus movement or the wars on the borders.”
According to Harsimrat, the SAD under her father-in-law, former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, was the first political body in the country to raise its voice against the 1975 Emergency.
“Mr Badal was among the first people to court arrest objecting to the imposition of the Emergency, and every day, a jatha(group) of the Shiromani Akali Dal would court arrest,” she said.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Sikh farmers have an axe to grind against Kangana Ranaut. She called them out during the farmer’s agitation. That the Khalistanis had successfully hijacked the farmer’s protests was known to all. Everyone could see it but hardly anyone had the gall to state it publicly.
Kangana did and is paying the price for that.
The champions of “freedom of speech” are silent now – it suits their agenda.