Mass boycott of National Film Awards-vacant seats filled with dummies.
NEW DELHI: About 50 National Film Award winners boycotted the presentation ceremony on Thursday after they learnt that President Ram Nath Kovind would give away the awards to only 11 winners while the rest would receive them from Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Smriti Irani.
Among those who received the award and citation from Kovind were Boney Kapoor and his daughters on behalf of the late Sridevi, music composer AR Rahman, and Akshay Khanna on behalf of his late father Vinod Khanna.
As most winners received their awards from Irani. A day earlier, a massive controversy had erupted with many refusing to accept the award from her. One of the winners, director Indrani Chakraborty, expressed her disappointed. “Getting the National Award from the President of India is a huge honour. Any recipient treasures that one photograph with the President for life. We have given a signed petition to the directorate of film festivals stating that we will be absent from the ceremony if the awards aren’t given by the President.”
Vacant seats filled with 'dummies'
As the National Film Award winners, their guests and other invitees began gathering at the presentation venue, at least two rows of seats reserved for the awardees were vacant.
“The empty seats were later filled with dummies,” an award winner said.
Shekhar Kapur, chairman of the awards jury, earlier tried to mediate but failed to convince the agitated winners. About 60 award winners, including directors Kaushik Ganguly and Atanu Ghosh, wrote a letter to the President to express their disappointment. But with no response forthcoming, many left for the airport.
“In the circumstance of not receiving a response for our grievance, we are left with no option but to be absent for the ceremony. We do not intend to boycott the award, but are not attending the ceremony to convey our discontent and are awaiting a just solution,” read the letter.
The President’s secretariat issued a clarification which stated, “The President attends all award functions and convocations for a maximum of one hour. This has been the protocol since he took office. It was conveyed to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry several weeks ago and the ministry knew this all along. Rashtrapati Bhavan is surprised by the 11th hour questions that have been raised.”
Over 50 seats were vacant while Smriti Irani gave away the awards. To save her from embarrassment, organisers removed the name plates of the absent awardees and people sitting in the back rows were allowed to occupy the front seats.
Those present at the ceremony to receive awards included Rima Das, Jayaraj, Riddhi Sen, A R Rahman, K J Yesudas, Nagraj Manjule, Pankaj Tripathi, Divya Dutta, Nikhil S Praveen, Tenzing Kunchok and Sanjiv Monga.
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UP Police use tear gas to disperse crowd throwing stones during Sambhal mosque survey
Sambhal (UP) (PTI): Police used tear gas and "minor force" in the face of stone pelting by locals here on Sunday as tension escalated during a second survey of the Mughal-era mosque, claimed to be originally the site of an ancient Hindu temple.
Tension has been seething in Sambhal over the past few days after the Jama Masjid was surveyed last Tuesday on the orders of a local court following a petition that claimed that a Harihar temple stood at the site.
According to the local administration, a second survey by an "Advocate Commissioner" as part of a court-ordered examination into the disputed site began around 7 am and a crowd began gathering at the spot.
"Some miscreants came out of the crowd gathered near the site and pelted stones at the police team. The police used minor force and tear gas to bring the situation under control," Superintendent of Police Krishna Kumar Vishnoi said.
He said those who engaged in stone pelting and those who incited them will be identified and action taken against them.
District Magistrate Rajendra Pesia said, "Some miscreants resorted to stone pelting but the situation is peaceful now and the survey is underway."
Videos of youths throwing stones at police, purportedly near the site of the survey in Sambhal have surfaced on the Internet.
Supreme Court lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain, who is also the petitioner in the case, had said the Court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) ordered the constitution of an "Advocate Commission" to survey the mosque.
The court has said that a report should be filed after conducting a videography and photography survey through the commission, he had said.
The Central and Uttar Pradesh governments, the mosque committee and the district magistrate of Sambhal have been made parties in the petition concerning the mosque, Jain said last Tuesday.
Vishnu Shankar Jain and his father Hari Shankar Jain have represented the Hindu side in many cases related to places of worship, including the Gyanvapi Mosque-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.
Gopal Sharma, a local lawyer for the Hindu side, told PTI on Friday that in his petition filed in the court, he mentioned that "Baburnama" and the "Ain-e-Akbari" has confirmed that a Harihar temple was at the site where the Jama Masjid now stands.
He also claimed that the temple was demolished by Mughal Emperor Babur in 1529.
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq had objected to the developments.
"The Jama Masjid of Sambhal is historical and very old. The Supreme Court had given the order in 1991 that whatever religious places are there in whatever condition since 1947, they will remain at their places," he had said.
The next date for hearing in this case is January 29.
VIDEO | Uttar Pradesh: Stones and slippers pelted in Sambhal when a survey team reached Shahi Jama Masjid to conduct a survey of the mosque.
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 24, 2024
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7)#SambhalJamaMasjid pic.twitter.com/K4QGGpzlMK
