Cong workers burn Santoshi's effigy, call for 'Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh' ban: A Gandhian way of protest?

The Congress workers have threatened to hit streets if 'Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh' is released in theatres.

Mumbai, Jan 18: Workers of Congress in Madhya Pradesh recently burnt the effigy of filmmaker Rajkumar Santoshi in connection with the release of his upcoming movie 'Gandhi Godse Ek Yudh'.

The demand of the protestors was a ban on the Hindi film. Congress's student wing, the NSUI burnt Santoshi's effigy for glorifying Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

It all started after the trailer of the movie was released on January 11. It is about the fictional world where Gandhi survives the assassination attempt and meets Godse in jail, the conversation leads to a fiery debate between them.

Godse blames Gandhi for the India-Pakistan partition and the death of Hindus. He then talks about the latter becoming bigger than government, law and the country. It also shows him saying, "I'm a Hindu. I can sacrifice myself for the dignity of Hindus. Now, it's time to kill Gandhi."

This trailer has now gone well with Congress. "There cannot be any comparison between Mahatma Gandhi and Nathuram Godse," a report quoted PC Sharma, a former law minister and MLA from Bhopal South-West constituency as saying. "Gandhi is the Father of the Nation. How can any film or filmmaker compare him with Nathuram Godse? How did the censor board pass such a film? What is the use of having a censor board if the views of the BJP-RSS-Hindu Mahasabha is going to be imposed on the people of this country?" the Congress MLA asked.

He then targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing the release of the trailer. "PM Modi says that Mahatma Gandhi is his ideal, yet we have a film coming that wants to give Nathuram Godse an equal platform as the Father of the Nation. History is being mutilated as the film is also fictional in parts," Sharma said. He then threatened that Congress will hit the streets if the movie is allowed for theatrical release.

While the Congress has the right to express its views on the film, it does not have the right to burn the director's effigy and call for a ban on the movie. It is simply because it is against freedom of speech. More importantly, it is against the path shown by Gandhi. The surprising point of the story is that the grand old party has come to a decision that the movie is going to project Gandhi in a bad light even before the film's release.