Rajput women take out Swabhimaan rally in Chittor
STIR CONTINUES Women sought permission from President to end life if film is not banned JAIPUR:
Women from the Rajput community in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh took out a Swabhimaan rally in protest against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat on Sunday and wrote to the President of India demanding permission to end life.
Meanwhile, the state government in all likelihood will file a review petition on Monday in the Supreme Court against the apex court’s order that stayed the decision of some states to ban the screening of the film.
The film hurts the sentiments of the Rajput community as it allegedly distorts history regarding Rajput queen Padmini, a charge the filmmaker has denied.
In Chittorgarh, around 200 women of Jauhar Kshatrani Manch, Shri Rajput Karni Sena and Jauhar Smriti Sansthan, marched from Jauhar Sthal in Chittorgarh fort, where queen Padmini is said to have committed Jauhar in the year 1303 along with 16,000 other women, to Jauhar Bhawan in Gandhi Nagar area of the district and demanded that a countrywide ban be placed on the film, Suresh Kumar Khatik, sub divisional officer (SDO) of Chittorgarh said.
“They gave us a memorandum addressed to the President, prime minister, Rajasthan governor and the chief minister and said that if the film is not banned, they should then be granted permission to end life,” said the SDO.
The Jauhar Smriti Sansthan also organised a two-day seminar titled ‘Padmini Ek Vastavikta’ that began on Sunday in Chittorgarh to ‘bring out the historical truths about Padmini’. Around 35 historians from different parts of Rajasthan were invited to read papers on queen Padmini to establish her existence, Lokendra Singh Chundawat, the organising secretary of the seminar, said.
Besides, the Shri Rajput Karni Sena said on Sunday that they will shut the doors of Amer and Nahargarh forts in Jaipur to protest the release of the film. “To protect the Rajput pride, we will shut the doors of our forts,” said Mahipal Singh Makrana, president of the Karni Sena, who also called the order of the SC a ‘fatwa’ (religious decree).
However, officials confirmed that no such orders have been passed. In this regard, an official statement from the City Palace and Jaigarh Fort clarified that no such order was passed. “The City Palace and Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur will remain open to visitors as per it’s timings on all days. The rumour of its closure being circulated is untrue,” the statement reads.
On Saturday, Makrana had urged the soldiers of Rajput, Sikh and Jat regiments to lay down their arms for a day in protest against the film. “You defend the country throughout the year. For one day, defend the honour of your sisters and daughters,” he had urged the soldiers of the ‘Kshatriya’ regiments.
The Rajput body also called for a ‘Janta Curfew’ across the country on January 25 wherein the film hall owners shall voluntarily not screen the film.
Members of Karni Sena, that is spearheading the campaign against the film for over a year, also met cinema hall owners in the state urging them not to screen the film.
The Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena members requested the hall owners at the Triton Mega Mall not to screen Padmaavat.