Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Monday said he had asked the state's director-general of police to probe a recent advertisement by cosmetics maker Dabur.
The advertisement for Dabur's Fem bleach showed a same-sex couple celebrating the Hindu festival of Karva Chauth. The advertisement had earned both praise and criticism for its bold theme.
Mishra said the advertisement was a "serious issue" and asked why such material was circulated only for Hindu religious festivals. "Today, they are showing lesbians at Karva Chauth. Tomorrow, they will show two males getting married... why show material that hurt our sentiments?... if you have courage, show clips that offend sentiments of other religions," Mishra told mediapersons.
Mishra said he had instructed the DGP to probe the Dabur "lesbian advertisement" and to tell the company to withdraw it or the government would initiate legal procedures.
Mishra also referred to the vandalism of a set of the OTT series Aashram by the Bajrang Dal on Sunday. He said, "There are attempts to intentionally target Hindu religion in the name of web series for long time. Considering the sentiments of majority community, [director] Prakash Jha should consider changing the name of Aashram web series."
Mishra said the state government would issue guidelines that would specify that if movie scripts contained material that would hurt religious sentiments, then the makers would have to submit the story script to the government and begin filming only after receiving permission.
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Police have detained four Bajrang Dal members for the vandalism, though there has been no complaint yet from Prakash Jha or his unit. They changed location late on Sunday night in Bhopal and shot scenes in the wee hours, according to sources.
Meanwhile, the vandalism of the Aashram set also triggered a political reaction. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted, "chief minister, home minister, how long people of Madhya Pradesh continue to tolerate goondas reared by you. Bhopal has become popular location for film shootings. Prakash Jha is a famous producer. Shouldn't Bhopal police have given protection to his film unit?'
(With inputs from Sravani Sarkar)
