A new dispensation has taken over the reins in the controversy-ridden Central Board of Film Certification after the dramatic resignation of Leela Samson as chairperson of the board. The new board that has replaced the Samson-led one, headed by film-maker Pahlaj Nihalani inspires little hope that it would be free of political linkages.
Nihalani said nonchalantly in a TV interview on taking over that he was proud to be a BJP man. Some other board members also have also been accommodated on political considerations.
Samson had been appointed to the post by the erstwhile UPA Government and was believed to be close to Sonia Gandhi from whom she drew her strength.
When the NDA Government displaced the Manmohan Singh Government in May last, Leela Samson knew her days were numbered. However, preoccupied as the Modi Government was with various other things, it chose to put the issue of replacing her on the backburner.
But there was no love lost between Samson and the Narendra Modi Government. Indeed, Samson and many other members of the Censor Board, who owed their appointment to the UPA Government and later resigned with her were itching for a fight so that they could be seen by the cultural community as martyrs who went down fighting.
The opportunity offered itself when controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Sirsa in Haryana who has a mass following, applied to the CBFC for certification of a full length feature film on himself which showed him in jewel-studded costume riding motorbikes and sending the bad guys flying.
Samson and her cohorts were apparently well aware that the sect, Dera Sacha Sauda, which the godman had founded, had tied up electorally with the BJP in the recent Haryana assembly elections and that they were hand-in-glove. When the controversial film “MSG: the Messenger of God” was cleared by an appeals tribunal after the Censor Board had rejected it, it was time for Samson to raise a hue and cry.
All hell has meanwhile broken loose in many Punjab towns, where the Sacha Sauda founder is treated with utter contempt and anger by those who owe allegiance to the Akal Takht, and in turn, to the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee. The BJP’s predicament is that its ally, the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, is strongly dependent on the SGPC, which puts it at cross purposes with the sect.There is no denying, however, that Sacha Sauda has a huge following of mainly lower caste Sikhs and Hindus, and is keen that the animosity between Akal Takht and Sacha Sauda must not escalate further.
While it is difficult to believe that the BJP did not have a hand in the manner in which the certification was given to the godman’s film, it is equally true that Samson has been playing devious politics, perhaps at the behest of the Congress Party. An acclaimed classical dancer, she has alleged “interference, coercion and corruption”, which appeared to be directed at the information and broadcasting ministry.
“Recent cases of interference in the working of the (board) by the ministry, through an ‘additional charge’ CEO, and corrupt panel members has caused a degradation of values that the members of (the Censor Board) and Chairperson stood for,” she said, in her letter to the ministry.
Now that she is laying the blame at the Modi Government’s door, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore is perfectly justified in asking how, if she was so deeply aggrieved with the various goings-on, she had not written to the ministry earlier. Also, why had she not protested when two new appointees during Congress rule just did not have the right credentials for the job.
This is not to defend the self-proclaimed spiritual leader. Apart from opposition from the Sikhs who offer allegiance to the Akal Takht, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh faces several criminal cases, including that of murder and rape, with the latest complaint against him being the forcible castration of 400 of his followers. Because of the sizable votes he commands, all political leaders visit him, some directly and others through intermediaries but don’t talk about his cases. He has been provided Z-security.
The dera had become popular initially for its anti-drug campaign. The Malwa region of Punjab has been facing this menace for years.
The MSG is perceived to be an effort on the part of Gurmeet Singh to project himself as purely a spiritual person engaged in the eradication of social evils and thus influence the course of judicial intervention. Years ago, lakhs of his followers had jammed Chandigarh streets to protest against the cases registered against him. All eyes are on Ram Rahim Singh, as his film vies strongly for release. The ‘MSG’ episode has indeed drawn attention to the ills in the censorship processes and procedures. That political interference is rampant is clear. But neither side —neither the Congress nor the BJP—can claim that their hands are clean. The present controversy will soon die a natural death. But it is time the political meddling is stopped in its tracks.
