Youth Congress activists here on Friday hold protests outside Hind Inox cinema hall in Kolkata against the screening of the film The Accidental Prime Minister which is based on the tenure of ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It led to the screening of the movie getting cancelled in that hall.
Right from the morning, youth Congress activists were protesting in front of the hall at Central Kolkata, which is a traditional stronghold of the party.
As soon as the screening began, situation outside the hall became tensed. Youth Congress activists started burning posters of the film. Just merely 10 minutes into screening of the movie, police in civil uniform entered the hall and requested the viewers to go out. According to hall authorities, no one instructed them to stop the screening. But they took a call spotting the risk perception of the ticket-paying public. They also raised slogans against the actors and the producer of the film.
State Culture Minister and eminent singer Indranil Sen said that no instructions have been given to stop screening of the movie. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee broke her silence on the movie, The Accidental Prime Minister.
“Ahead of elections, they have come up with a movie, Accidental Prime Minister. I do not endorse the kind of politics Congress does hence we parted ways several years back But, I will say that it is not in a good taste,” Banerjee said.
While Youth Congress orchestrated the entire protest, officially West Bengal Congress has disapproved the action and said the party would never “oppose freedom of speech”, which it values deeply as part of its ideology.The film, which was released today, features actor Anupam Kher as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The film is based on Singh’s then media adviser Sanjaya Barus 2014 memoir of the same name and details Singhs relationship with the Congress partys Gandhi family.
“This is nothing but a propaganda film to show former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party in poor light. We condemn it,” a youth Congress activist said.However, the West Bengal Congress unit in a statement disapproved their actions.
“The official stand of the Indian National Congress on the ‘Accidental Prime Minister’ is that we have nothing to do with it. Our president Rahul Gandhi has instructed us that we as a party will never oppose freedom of speech, which we value deeply, as part of our ideology. “In the recent years, we have fallen victim to propaganda and we firmly believe that the people who watch the movie will see through the vile propaganda at play,” the state unit of the Congress said in a statement.
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