How can Karni Sena made up of few totally orthodox self-styled Rajputs no matter what the provocations are indulge in ordering its members to forcibly stop showing of film Padmaavat? How can they decide that which film is to be shown and which film is not to be shown? How can they decide that what should be shown in a film and what should not be shown in a film?
How can members of Karni Sena or any other member of any other group issue a reward of Rs 5 crore or 10 crore on the nose of Deepika Padukone as has been done actually? How can they still continue to roam free and be at large without being arrested by police or anyone else? How can they attack buses of children going to schools threatening the very safety of innocent children and scare them to the extent that we can’t even dream of and vandalize the buses in which the children are travelling as has happened actually at many places and still be at large?
How can they vandalize cinema halls, burn vehicles whichever comes their way and yet police sees everything like a mute spectator? How can Karni Sena overrule Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) which has cleared the film after making the necessary cuts and order its members to make sure that it is not shown in any cinema hall? How can Karni Sena even overrule Supreme Court which has directed States to ensure that the film Padmaavat is shown without being restricted? How can Karni Sena be above the law of the land and do whatever it feels like without any fear of anything? How can Karni Sena proclaim that above Supreme Court there is the court of the people and with the help of their people who are nothing but goons will ensure that the order of Supreme Court which is the highest court of the land is blatantly disregarded?
How can Karni Sena members beat up anyone who wants to see the movie Padmaavati and yet not be arrested by the police? How can the state administration turn a blind eye to the open violence cycle perpetrated by Karni Sena in roads, streets, cinema halls, shops and anywhere they feel like and just condemn it by indulging in nothing but only and only lip service meant for public consumption? How can Karni Sena block roads, highways, burn vehicles, smash vehicles and indulge in violence, arson and loot without being stopped by the police in any manner?
How can Karni Sena order any person to not see the movie which they feel has insulted their culture? How can Karni Sena openly threaten naked violence and destruction and yet not be arrested promptly? How can Karni Sena mock at our laws and openly dictate that what they decide will operate as law and nothing else can replace it?
How can Karni Sena suddenly emerge out of the blue and start vandalism and violence wherever they want to stop the film Padmaavati from being screened? How can Chief Ministers of the State ignore their Constitutional duty and allow Karni Sena to do whatever they want? How can Karni Sena declare that they will burn all those cinema halls wherever the film Padmaavati is being screened?
How can Karni Sena members openly wave weapons on streets and burn vehicles and vandalise any shop, mall etc wherever they want on the pretext of opposing the film Padmaavat? How can Centre and all those States where this open orgy of unrestricted violence is panning out tolerate all this quietly? How can Karni Sena brutally burn vehicles, injure people, smash toll plazas, burn cinema halls, vandalise shops and do whatever they like as has actually been happening not just in small cities but even in big cities like Ahmedabad and others?
How can Karni Sena members openly throw stones and injure school children as we saw in Gurugram, etc and yet not be arrested? How can Karni Sena members openly threaten cinema hall owners all over the country to not show the film Padmaavat and if they dare to do then their cinema halls will be vandalized and burnt down as has happened also in different parts of India? How can Karni Sena members claim that they will do this openly and State government and Centre will not be able to do anything to stop them?
How can Centre and State tame surrender itself in front of Karni Sena and abdicate their legal obligation to provide safety to the cinema hall owners as well as the people from being harassed by the members of Karni Sena and allow them to do what they want to do with just little or no action on the ground being taken? How can Karni Sena start governing the country without being elected or without fighting even a single election? How can Karni Sena start behaving like the dictators and order that no one can disobey what they order and law also has to bend in front of them?
How can Karni Sena behave like super PM and super CM and dictate what movie the people will see and what movie they will not see? How can Karni Sena order cash rewards for killing or maiming the actor and actresses who shooted in the film Padmaavati without being even arrested or rebuked by the police or anyone else? How can Karni Sena be allowed to hold the prestige and reputation of our entire country to ransom by openly making a mockery of the elected government both in the Centre and in the States and threatening to do all such acts which are not just illegal but a crime?
At a time when PM Narendra Modi is trying to enhance the country’s image at Davos while attending the World Economic Forum, what message is Karni Sena sending? Who would like to invest in India if untrammelled violence by Karni Sena is allowed to go on like this which should have been contained at the first place? How can Karni Sena be above the law of the land?
No organization can so brazenly disregard all rules and regulations and impose their own Talibani farmaan because if Karni Sena is today allowed to do so then tomorrow many more organizations representing different religions and castes can also start imposing their own brazen diktats and start indulging in huge violence, mayhem and destruction if their whimsical orders are not complied with fully! The members of such fringe groups like Karni Sena should have been arrested well in time as a precautionary measure and released only after it was ensured that the film has operated peacefully! But, most unfortunately, this was not done and the consequences are there for all of us to see for ourselves!
Needless to say, Centre as well as State Governments wherever violence breaks out on a large scale cannot escape from their liability of failing to act well in time to prevent the huge violence that breaks out within no time when members of such radical groups like Karni Sena start assembling on the roads in huge numbers and with dangerous weapons in their hands! It is the duty of the Centre and the State Governments to provide security to the people who want to see films and ensure that vandalizers and anti-social elements are not allowed to have the last laugh by indulging in unrestricted violence and looting – all in the name of protecting the culture of Rajputs! Even I myself don’t favour distortion of history by making such controversial films like Padmaavat which has generated so much of controversy and will never see this film but violence and vandalism in the name of protecting culture is just not acceptable!
This is just not done! It cannot be justified under any circumstances! When we can not just tolerate but accord red carpet welcome to Pakistani invader Gen Musharraf who masterminded Kargil war in which we lost more than 600 soldiers and that too just after 2 to 3 months of the Kargil war and who presented Rs 1 lakh cash prize to dreaded Al Qaeda terror leader Iliyas Kashmiri for presenting him a severed head of an Indian soldier Bhausaheb Maruti Talekar as was reported also in all English dailies and hailed terrorists as freedom fighters and had even threatened to nuke India during Kargil war and even after attack on Parliament was contemplating to do so then why can’t we be similarly tolerant of the film Padmaavat and its producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is not a Pakistani invader like Gen Musharraf who himself conceded that he had entered about 15-16 km inside Indian territory during Kargil war just the night before war began to boost his soldiers morale to brutally kill Indian soldiers like Captain Saurav Kalia and 5 soldiers of 4 Jat Regiment were killed after mercilessly torturing them for 22 days maiming them, blinding them and not sparing even their private parts and then finally shooting them on their heads and those Pakistani soldiers who did all this were rewarded by Gen Musharraf? Still why we never see such anger against Gen Pervez? Gen Pervez was even honoured by many big media houses yet we didn’t see any anger anywhere that time! Honour for Gen Pervez Musharraf and hatred for Padmaavat cannot be justified under any circumstances! I strongly condemn it in strongest words!
Such despicable and barbaric acts which shames us so much internationally cannot be justified under any circumstances and those organizations whose members indulge in such mindless violence must be not just brought to book but also must be made to pay for all the damage done so that no one again dares to indulge in violence and vandalism! But this never happens because of lack of political will! Not just this, the main reason why those indulging in violence are not promptly arrested is that parties don’t want to antagonize any particular class as they constitute a major votebank and doing so will cost them dearly in the upcoming elections! How can self-serving politicians allow this?
This alone explains why supporters of powerful groups like Baba Ram Rahim are able to do what they like without being stopped by police or any other security forces as they are instructed by the political class to not take any action unless they are specifically ordered! We saw how when Baba Ram Rahim was arrested and sent to prison after being sentenced in a rape case, violence erupted on a large scale as his followers were not arrested in time nor stopped from marching to the place where he was being tried! Many innocent people lost their lives as a consequence!
This is what is drastically dragging India backwards and a bold way has to be evolved to deal with it before it engulfs our whole country and endanger the well being and prosperity of our great nation! Centre must now step up the gas and so must all the States and take strictest possible action against those goons who don’t spare even children and school buses in the name of protesting against Padmaavat! If this is not done, even God cannot help our nation from being merged in violence and vandalism which will ultimately destroy our nation!
Can any true Indian ever allow this to ever happen? Certainly not! So we must cultivate compassion and tolerance even for views and persons with which we don’t agree just like we saw when Pakistani invader Gen Pervez Musharraf was accorded a red carpet welcome in India by all major parties and media houses! Violent protests can never be allowed nor should they be allowed by the Centre under any pretext and they cannot be justified under any circumstances! Those who indulge in it must be swiftly arrested and made to pay for all the losses that they have caused! Why protesters never destroy their own property if they are so much angry? Ponder!
Sanjeev Sirohi, Advocate,
s/o Col BPS Sirohi,
A 82, Defence Enclave,
Sardhana Road, Kankerkhera,
Meerut – 250001, Uttar Pradesh.
