Union minister and former Lok Sabha MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu on Friday said Kangana Ranaut-starter controversial film “Emergency” had been rid of all anti-Sikh representations and asked groups criticising the release of the movie whether they wanted to hide the reality of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s anti-Sikh actions from people.
“I really can’t understand your criticism. As far as content hurtful to Sikh sentiments goes, I assure you it has all been removed from the film, so those issues stand resolved. Now, the groups that are still criticising the film, may I ask them why they want to hide the reality of Indira Gandhi’s actions, be it the attack on Darbar Sahib, the approach to Sant Bhindranwale or the massacre of Sikhs after her assassination in 1984? Don’t you, as Sikhs, want all this to be known to everyone? Why do you want to hide this in the garb of your criticism for the film?” Bittu asked in a video statement.
Bittu said the Centre had engaged two experts of Sikh affairs, one from Ludhiana and another from Nanded, to vet the film and they sat with the Censor Board chairman and removed all objectionable references to the community.
Now, the film had nothing that was hurtful to Sikh sentiment, in fact, it threw light on historical facts that unfolded during the term of Indira Gandhi, the Emergency she imposed, Operation Blue Star, firing of bullets on the Golden Temple, he said.
“Why don’t these groups criticising the film want the reality of anti-Sikh policies of those times to be revealed to general public?” asked Bittu, whose grandfather, the late Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh, had been assassinated at the height of terrorism in Punjab.
