More articles by

Rabi Banerjee
Rabi Banerjee

Movie politics

Mamata wades into Padmavati row, vents ire on saffron brigade

Padmavati-protest-PTI Bajrang Dal activists protesting against Padmavati at Nagpur | PTI

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lambasted right-wing organisations that have been threatening actors and the director of the controversial film Padmavati.

The film is based on the life of Rajput queen Rani Padmini as narrated in an epic poem by Malik Muhammad Jayasi in the 1500s. While some groups recently issued death threats against Deepika Padukone, the movie's lead actor, others have suggested her nose be cut off and eyes gouged out.

“This is absolutely unacceptable. We are living in a society, which is today full of threats and violence. Some people vitiate the moderate fabric of our nation. They are encroaching on the freedom of speech and expression of people. I hate this,” Banerjee declared after she returned to the state following a week-long tour of the United Kingdom.

She attacked the Narendra Modi government over the attacks on the film fraternity of India over the Padmavati issue.

She asked the film fraternity to raise their voice against people who were threatening them. “We are contemplating uniting the film fraternity in Bengal and initiating a protest from here,” said Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee.

“These things cannot be appreciated. They are leaking valuable information in Aadhaar (referring to data breach incidents) and then threatening actors. Where are we living?” Chatterjee declared.

During her visit to the UK, Banerjee held meetings with Scottish business groups, apart from meeting NRI businessmen Lord Swraj Paul and L.N. Mittal. Both Paul and Mittal had studied in Kolkata.

Banerjee asked both Mittal and Paul to invest in West Bengal; a fortnight ago, she had made a similar request to Mukesh Ambani.

While Banerjee refused to say anything about the outcome of the meeting with Mittal and Paul, state finance minister Amit Mitra said, “The outcome of the meeting was very much positive. We have asked all of them to come to Bengal to attend our Bengal global meet.”

Her cabinet colleagues said Banerjee did not like to comment on her business meetings unless businessmen came to Bengal and invested.

“Only after they invest in our state, can we say the visit was fruitful,” said a state government minister.

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.

Related Reading