The threat of banning a Hindi film by people supporting the ruling party was part of key issues raised during the Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Monday as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) member Danish Ali raised the issue and asserted that the job of clearing films should be left to the Central Board of Film Certification.
Mr. Ali’s comment was made in the backdrop of a controversy created by a song of the Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone-starrer Pathaan. The Chair, however, expunged specific references to any particular film or its star cast.
The BSP MP alleged that people linked to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were demanding a ban on the film because it has hurt feelings of the Hindu community and similar demands were also made by an Ulema board.
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“It is a new trend, those in the government are demanding that the film be banned... Someone from the Ulema board also said a film should be banned,” Mr. Ali said, adding, “The job of banning movies should be left to the censor board. There are many artistes among our members. Sanatan Dharma is not so weak that it would be in danger due to someone wearing a colour... Nor is Islam so weak that a movie may hurt it”.
During the Zero Hour, Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury demanded a discussion on Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) as “innocent civilians are losing their lives, at times by the terrorists’ bullet, and at times due to the mistakes of the forces”.
“They [Union government] had said in the House that after abrogation of Article 370, we will capture PoK, and Aksai Chin. But today, Pandits are being forced out of the valley, lists are being made by terrorists to eliminate Pandits,” Mr. Chowdhury said, adding, ”We want a detailed discussion in Lok Sabha on the situation in J&K”.
Mr. Chowdhury also mentioned a recent incident from Jammu’s Rajouri town, where two civilians were shot dead and a third was injured on Friday morning near the gate of an Army facility.
BJP member from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey, raised the issue of the brutal murder of a tribal woman in Jharkhand and sought to link it to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants.
“Day before yesterday (Saturday), a girl from a primitive tribal community was forced to marry and after that she was cut into 50 pieces. No action has been taken. If this murder had taken place in Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai, media would have been raising it,” Mr. Dubey said.
The victim, a 22-year-old woman belonging to the primitive Pahariya community, was the second wife of the man identified as Dildar Ansari. “I have been raising this issue repeatedly that Bangladeshi intruders have captured my constituency... This is happening with the support of the Jharkhand government,” the BJP MP alleged.
Another member, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi referred to growing disputes, resulting in violence in the northeastern region and said that the BJP-led “North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) has now become North East Divisive Alliance”.
