: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday slammed the “pro-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) media” for remaining silent over the attack on Bollywood film-maker Sanjay Leela Bhansali while shooting for his film Padmavati in Rajasthan last week.
Mr. Tejashwi Yadav also invited Mr. Bhansali to shoot his film in the “historical, glorified, culturally rich and developing Bihar”.
“Bihar hota to Bha-Ja-Pa-yi mediawale jatiwad aur jungle raj ka aphvaah faila kar Bihar ko badnaam kar rahe hote...BJP-shashit pradesh hai to ye sab chup hain. (Had it been Bihar, the pro-BJP media would have spread rumours of casteism and jungle raj to defame Bihar...they are keeping quiet as it happened in a BJP-ruled State),” tweeted Mr. Lalu Prasad.
Mr. Lalu Yadav was soon joined by his younger son and the State’s Deputy chief minister, Tejaswi Yadav, who not only attacked some “elite and eminent” journalists for not reacting to the incident but also invited filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali to shoot his film in Bihar. “If the Bhansali incident had taken place in Bihar, there would have been endless hot debates on jungle raj and casteism by elite and eminent journalists,” tweeted Mr. Tejashwi Yadav.
An hour later, he tweeted again, “I invite Bollywood to come and shoot in historical, glorified, culturally rich and developing Bihar…will extend all sorts of help all the way”. Mr. Tejaswi Yadav further attacked the BJP over the issue in his next tweet: “Whatever has happened with Sanjay Leela Bhansali in BJP-rule Rajasthan is quite unfortunate — it is in their DNA to make Indians fight with each other”.
On January 27, Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and his crew were attacked by members of the Rajput Karni Sena, a fringe Rajput caste militia group, while he was shooting for his historical movie ‘Padmavati’ in Rajasthan. The attackers charged that Mr. Bhansali had distorted historical facts in the movie which is, reportedly, about a Rajput queen and the 14th century Sultan of Delhi, Allauddin Khilji. Popular Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh play the lead roles.
