Govt must take the blame

A key objective of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is to ensure that film does not hurt sentiments of communities and faiths. Denied the certificate because it promoted obscurantism, controversial film ‘Messenger of God’ made and acted by Gurmeet Ram Rahim, a preacher with mass following from Sirsa, Haryana, won an appeal before the Board’s appellate panel.

The film has angered the Sikhs in Punjab and Haryana as the ‘hero’ is supposed to be impersonating as one of their community. In the absence of details, it would seem that the certificate rejection might have been on valid grounds.

This apart, the man has been evading court summons and arrest, one of the charges being castration of a person in his ashram. Is there ‘politics’ behind such a person and his film being entertained? The government must answer. Has it forgotten the carnage in another Haryana ashram only recently when five persons were killed in the police attempt to arrest Guru Rampal?

There may be ‘politics’ behind the mass resignations of CBFC Chairperson Leela Samson and most members. We may go by Minister Arun Jaitley’s charge that they were all UPA government appointees, on extension, and had chosen to turn “rebels without a cause.” But he has not explained why the CBFC was not re-constituted earlier to purge it of “UPA appointees.” If he calls Samson and his team “non-functional,” he must explain how a body can be “functional” when it gets extension month-by-month.

Of all the censorship-related crises in recent years, this one is the most serious in that it has become a full-scale confrontation between the government and the censors. Never before has virtually the entire body resigned. Given the ‘packing’ of history council and other such bodies by those ideologically close to Sangh Parivar, it is likely that the CBFC’s reconstitution may take the same route.

Samson has criticised even the UPA government earlier and lamented the inclusion of “semi literates with political compulsions.” The CBFC functions under a system piloted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s bureaucracy that encourages “non-functioning” and even corruption. A top CBFC official was arrested for accepting bribe last year. M K Raina, theatre and film personality who wisely resigned last year after the political changes, has said that the bureaucracy is ‘killing’ the CBFC.

Films are the only medium in India that is subjected to pre-release censorship. It began during the colonial era and nobody in power wants to let go. They are also the most lucrative and deeply impact the society, attracting eyes, both glad and greedy, from governments, both central and state, irrespective of political hues.

Although the government is quitting from many an areas of national activity, the changing times have only underscored the need for censorship, given their sensitivities that assume religious, regional, ethnic, linguistic, moral and even personal.

That being the reality, there is need to overhaul the system and make it ‘functional’. Will Jaitley do it?

By: Mahendra Ved