In recent days the nation has been gripped with debate over filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming movie, Padmavati. As per the critics of the movie, the film supposedly distorts history and one of the allegations hurled by some Rajput groups like Karni Sena is that the movie contains a romantic scene between Rani Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji. This has however been clarified, that there in fact no romantic scene between the two.
Things have become so heated that radical elements like Meerut-based Thakur leader Abhishek Som announced a Rs 5 crore bounty on Bhansali’s head. A certain Mahipal Singh Makrana of Rajput Karni Sena even threatened to cut off the nose of actress Deepika Padukone, who plays the character of Padmavati.
Padmavati has even encountered opposition transcending party lines with senior leaders from both the Congress and BJP have expressed reservations about the movie. It has also meant that leaders like Mamata Banerjee have glaringly exposed their hypocrisy by coming out in support of the film.
If all this wasn’t enough, controversial journalist Sagarika Ghose decided to come out with a tweet to try and glorify former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, with the help of this ongoing controversy:
If Indira Gandhi had been around, she would have made sure no govt or film was held hostage by any Sena, however loudly they shouted #Padmavatirow
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) November 20, 2017
Going by the literal interpretation of Ms. Ghose’s tweet, Indira Gandhi was some sort of a political leader who held freedom of expression very dear to her heart and would have done her utmost to try and make sure a movie like Padmavati was released uneventfully.
This amused people to no end as while Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister from 1966 to 1977, the nation saw the imposition of emergency for 8 years between 1966-68, 1971-1975 and the most stringent one from 1975 to 1977. Which meant severe restriction getting imposed on the fundamental rights of the citizens.
People as a result didn’t stop from questioning Ms. Ghose’s logic:
At your face @sagarikaghose pic.twitter.com/uEBUvXM7wi
— The Skin Doctor ? (@thecyberbully13) November 20, 2017
Eureka! Eureka!
I have discovered element no 120 on the periodic table. Denser than Osmium & more radioactive than Polonium – I present to you Saggymium pic.twitter.com/LYgRcU11ju
— Abhijit Iyer-Mitra (@Iyervval) November 20, 2017
Hahahahaha if it wasn’t for SM, they’d hv passed on such lies with finesse. Wiped out the history of ban on a series of films like Aandhi, Kissa Kursi Ka https://t.co/Dio1ziaNS4
— हम भारत के लोग (@India_Policy) November 20, 2017
See how brazenly they peddle lies as counterfactual history. A) List of films and books banned under Indira’s regime is so long (conservative estimate >100). B) Even a mildly critical biography of hers penned by Zareer Masani was censored and never allowed to be published. https://t.co/FPUH3w0ysN
— Prasanna Viswanathan (@prasannavishy) November 21, 2017
Ms. Ghose though refused to back down and came up with another odd tweet to justify her point of view:
Indira Gandhi banned democracy itself during the Emergency. To justify banning #Padmavati by alluding to bans on Kissa Kursi Ka is truly bizarre logic! Are we in an Emergency?
— Sagarika Ghose (@sagarikaghose) November 20, 2017
By especially mentioning that Indira Gandhi managed to ban democracy itself meant that Ms. Ghose’s initial point regarding glorifying Indira Gandhi’s supposed concern for freedom of creative expression was rendered moot. This is because if any national leader decides to impose such a state of emergency, he/she ensures that apart from creative freedom, civil liberties, free press, political opposition all go for a toss in that country.
Also what is more intriguing is that the pro freedom of expression stance Ms. Ghose herself has taken, is completely contradictory to her behaviour while the movie Indu Sarkar was being attacked by Congress supporters because it portrayed the 1957-77 emergency period.
As reported by us while Madhur Bhandarkar was being threatened by Congress supporters, Ms. Ghose rather than equivocally supporting Bhandarkar, decided to in-turn try and expose him and as a result ended up exposing her own hypocrisy.
