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Just ten days before Gujarat hosts the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD), for the first time in the state, RSS-affiliate Bajrang Dal activists on Monday vandalised two cinema halls in Ahmedabad, protesting against screening of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan’s blockbuster “PK”, which they claimed ‘hurt’ the majority Hindus’ religious feelings.
Overworked officials, busy like bee in organising the much-publicized PBD on January 8 and 9, quickly followed by the biennial Vibrant Gujarat Summit on January 11 and 12, were unavailable for comment.
The two mega events will be organised on a massive scale in Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad, with President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides about 5,000 guests from India and over a dozen countries, in attendance at various functions.
Cinemagoers said over 20 members of Bajrang Dal, led by its Ahmedabad branch chief Jwalit Mehta, “attacked” City Gold and Shiv Cinema halls on the city’s main business district of Ashram Road on Monday morning and demanded a ban on the film that they claimed hurt the Hindus’ religious sentiments.
The right wing activists also smashed ticket windows and pulled down posters of the film that has already raked in over Rs 300 crore in India and overseas since its screening commenced on December 19. The much-awaited film, directed by ace director Rajkumar Hirani and written by Ahmedabad-born Abhijat Joshi, is a satirical take on godmen and superstitions.
Policemen from the Navrangpura polise station, led by Deputy Police Commissioner Virendra Singh Yadav, rushed to the spots but the accused had already left the scene. Police said they were collecting evidence of vandalism and to identity the culprits from CCTV cameras installed at the two cinema halls.
These incidents come close on heels of the Sangh Pariwar’s “Ghar Vapsi” (religious conversion) campaign in the tribal district of Dang in South Gujarat last week.
Talking to a group of reporters later, Mehta claimed responsibility for the incidents and also warned other cinema halls screening the film. He accused Aamir Khan of sparing his own religion while hurting the Hindus’ sentiments.
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