AIADMK up in arms against actor Vijay's 'Sarkar' over reference to Jayalalithaa
Chennai, Nov 8: The ruling AIADMK is up in arms against Tamil film star Vijay's Diwali release 'Sarkar' for its reported reference to late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, besides the alleged depiction of certain government schemes in bad light.
Senior AIADMK ministers demanded that the contentious scenes to be deleted, and threatened to initiate legal action if the latter failed to comply.
Senior AIADMK leader and Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar wanted to know why certain references deemed to be that to the late Jayalalithaa had found their way into the script.
Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam said certain scenes amounted to inciting violence and warned of action.
"The scenes relating to burning of government welfare amount to inciting of violence. Whether it is the producer (Sun Pictures) or the actor (Vijay), or theatres-- they will have to face action," he told reporters.
Reports suggested that certain scenes show grinder, mixers and fans being put to fire, seen as an obvious reference to the late J Jayalalithaa's flagship schemes of providing these items free of cost, in line with an electoral promise in 2011.
AIADMK workers staged a protest outside a theatre in Madurai demanding certain scenes be removed.
Jayakumar said it was an attempt at maligning the former party supremo.
"Why unnecessarily make such references. It shows vendetta and an attempt at maligning (her)," he said.
He also wondered if the filmmakers could have come up with such a flick when Jayalalithaa was alive and said her death has "emboldened" them.
"If they (Vijay) had spelt out their policies, ideology and if the movie is reflective of that, it is fine. But in order to project themselves, to trample over others' sentiments and hurting them, that is not acceptable," he said and called for legal action against the crew.
Referring to the films of matinee idol and AIADMK founder, the late chief minister MG Ramachandran, Jayakumar said the former's films never carried such content.
In an apparent reference to Ramachandran's elevation from a cinema star to a chief minister of the state later, he said "not all can become MGR."
Lashing out at Vijay, Information Minister Kadambur C Raju said, "This is not good for a growing actor like Vijay."
"The matter has come to the government's notice. We will advise them to remove the scenes. If they do it themselves its fine, otherwise, we will decide the next course of action," he said.
'Sarkar,' produced by Sun Pictures stars Vijay, Keerthi Suresh, Radharavi, Varalakshmi Sarathkumar and is directed by AR Murugadoss and has music by Oscar winner AR Rahman.
The film had earlier courted a pre-release controversy over plagiarism.
An aspiring filmmaker claimed that the story of the film was his, following which Murugadoss went in for a compromise with the claimant.
Incidentally, Vijay's earlier flick 'Mersal' had the BJP cry foul over certain "incorrect" references to the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
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Delhi Police refutes WB CM's assault claim on Bengali-speaking migrants, calls video 'fabricated'
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police called a video shared by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on social media, alleging that a Bengali-speaking woman and her child were assaulted in the national capital for speaking their language, "fabricated" and "politically motivated."
Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Abhishek Dhania on Monday said that the police took immediate cognizance of the video shared on platform 'X' by the West Bengal CM, where she claimed that the woman and her child were brutally assaulted by Delhi Police personnel.
"Upon inquiry, we identified the woman as Sanjanu Parveen. During questioning, she alleged that on the night of July 26, four men in plain clothes posing as police personnel took her and her child to a secluded spot and demanded Rs 25,000, which she claimed to have paid," Dhania said.
However, the DCP said that a detailed investigation, including analysis of CCTV footage and local intelligence, revealed inconsistencies in her story.
"During sustained questioning, the woman admitted that her relative, a political worker from Malda district in West Bengal, had asked her to make the video. The video was then circulated locally in Bengal and later surfaced on social media," the officer said.
Terming the video "baseless and fabricated", Dhania added that the footage was deliberately created to defame the Delhi Police.
"This appears to be a deliberate attempt to malign the image of Delhi Police through a politically motivated narrative. The matter is still under investigation," he said.
