Politicians using Aarakshan for vote bank!
Saturday, August 13, 2011, 11:40 [IST]
film aarakshan, vote bank, aarakshan politicians, aarakshan ban, filmmaker prakash jha, saif ali khan, amitabh bachchan, deepika padukone, cm nitish kumar
India being a relatively poor country with rural population still decades away from enjoying the comforts of the urban dwellers, anything that hampers the interest of the poorer section of the society will spark protest. Perhaps, Indians who boost of their hospitality too love lifting up their fellow citizens. But the way politicians rush in to ban Prakash Jha’s film, Aarakshan, which deals with reservation in education, is something that will make every sensible citizen doubt their motives.
The Censor Board, which is very much aware of the controversy around the film, has cleared it without any cut. This shows that the makers of the film have dealt with the sensitive issue of reservation in education quite well. Even if certain organisations, section of the society or politicians doubt its content, they should have asked for special screening before its release and ask for changes if they find any objectionable scenes. But the governments of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh went ahead in banning it citing law and order problem, without looking for other options like providing security to film theatres.
It looks like politicians’ motive in banning the film is more to do with winning rural vote banks rather than fighting for their rights. If they are really concerned for the rural population, they should have asked the producers to hold special screening well before its release date and clear all the doubts. But they waited for the right time so that they could make more noise and banned it at the eleventh hour, thus jeopardising the collections of the film.
Many politicians failed to see what Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar see. Bihar is one of the poorest states and has huge scheduled caste and scheduled tribe population but he chose the wiser way to deal with the controversy by choosing to watch the film with none other than Amitabh Bachchan.
Yes, politicians being the representatives of the people have every right to protest and criticise any decision that hampers the weaker section of the society but banning a film without watching it is like anticipating flood on a sunny day. It’s time politicians stop acting for vote banks.
