Sangh claims Sanjay Leela Bhansali is getting free publicity from the controversy, suggesting that government may consider banning the movie, if necessary.
New Delhi: Joining the chorus of protests against Padmavati, an affiliate of the RSS has claimed that the Deepika Padukone-starrer movie is a “crime against women”.
It has taken strong exception to, what it said, “wrongful’ projection of history of India by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
Balmukund, national secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Itihaas Sankalan Samiti said the movie is nothing but “distortion of history”.
“If people go on a rampage after watching the movie, will Bhansali take responsibility of the situation? The movie is a crime against Indian women. Everyone knew that Alauddin Khalji laid his evil eyes on women and suggesting a relationship between the queen and him is a crime,” Balmukund added.
When asked if he supports banning the film, the senior RSS functionary said that in a democracy if people feel offended and angry after watching a movie, then the government must give a serious thought to such demands.
While the BJP leadership appears divided on the Padmavati issue, many in the RSS allege that Bhansali remained silent on the controversy for a long time for the sake of “publicity”.
Suresh Bindal, national vice-president of Sanskar Bharti, another RSS affiliate, claims that Bhansali is at fault for not submitting “proper documents” to the film certification board.
“There are two sides of this controversy. The first one is a legal issue — the CBFC cannot give a certificate until all documents are submitted by the filmmaker. In case of Bhansali, he has not completed the documentation and now blames the CBFC,” said Bindal, adding that private screening won’t matter much as those who were shown the film were mediapersons and not historians.
“The second aspect pertains to the publicity of the movie. Bhansali kept mum for a long period and enjoyed free publicity given by the media. It is when the matter went out of his hand that he arranged a private screening of the film,” Bindal said.
The release date of the movie, which was supposed to hit the theatres on 1 December, has been postponed in the wake of the massive controversy in Rajasthan and other places.
Krishnendra Kaur (Deepa), Rajasthan’s art and culture minister, said that history should not be distorted.
“I have not seen the movie, but I want to stress that our history should not be modified or altered.”
However, there are voices in the BJP who want the controversy to end soon. “Such a small matter, but such a huge controversy — this is not a right thing. The country is making progress under PM Modi and we should talk about that,” said Vijay Goel, Rajya Sabha MP from Rajasthan and Union minister of state for parliamentary affairs.