Ban new film or let us kill ourselves, Hindu hardliners demand
Mobs of Hindu hardliners protesting against a Bollywood film on the eve of its release rampaged through several Indian cities yesterday, clashing with police, torching vehicles and vandalising malls.
The unrest followed a night of rioting in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, where police fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds protesting against Padmaavat, a film about a legendary Hindu queen.
Demonstrators say the film falsely depicts a romance between Queen Padmavati and 14th-century Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji. Producers deny this and insist they have portrayed her respectfully in the movie, which has not yet been viewed by its critics.
Police doubled security near cinemas across India ahead of the film’s release today.
A bus was torched yesterday by a mob in Gurgaon, outside New Delhi, briefly blocking a major highway to the south as protesters pelted police with stones.
Similar riots unfolded in other cities, with baton-wielding police charging protesters in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. Demonstrators also stopped a passenger train in Mathura.
Cinemas and malls were targeted by protesters in several cities, including Jammu, where a ticket booth was torched.
Police in riot gear were stationed outside theatres as threats of violence escalated.
A caste-based group, the Shree Rajput Karni Sena, has threatened to attack cinemas showing the film. A group of about 150 women belonging to the Rajput caste threatened to burn themselves alive if the film was released. “The government should either ban the film, or give us the permission to kill ourselves,” one of them told Indian broadcaster Times Now.
Efforts by several states to ban its release was rejected by India’s top court.
Ahmedabad police commissioner A K Singh said extra forces were deployed in the Gujarati city after widespread vandalism and arson on Tuesday evening.
Police in Ahmedabad said more than 500 names had been registered and at least 100 arrests made after the melee, in which 50 motorbikes were torched and cars and malls were vandalised.
In Mumbai, police rounded up 50 suspects affiliated with hardline groups yesterday.
Full-page advertisements appeared in newspapers, saying the film portrayed the legendary queen “with utmost respect”.
Protesters maintain it distorts history, while experts say the queen is a mythical character.
Several hardliners have offered bounties of up to 50 million rupees (Dh2.9m) to anyone who beheads lead actress Deepika Padukone or the film’s director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
In January last year, Rajput Karni Sena members attacked Bhansali and vandalised the set during filming in Rajasthan.
The group’s leader, Lokendra Singh Kalvi, pointed the finger at the director as the violence unfurled.
“All this is happening because of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He should be blamed for all this,” Mr Kalvi said.
The movie stars Shahid Kapoor as Maharawal Ratan Singh, the husband of Padmavati, and Ranveer Singh as Khilji, who leads an invasion to try to capture the queen.
Film-makers say the movie is based on a work of fiction by a 16th-century Sufi poet.