Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Bollywood celebrity Kangana Ranaut's movie Emergency is facing protests from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) in Amritsar, Punjab. Amid the protests and demands to ban the movie, heavy police presence has been deployed outside the PVR Suraj Chanda Tara Cinema in Amritsar, according to an ANI report.
Speaking to the news agency, one SGPC member said, “Our protest today is over the release of Kangana Ranaut's ‘Emergency’. In this film, the history of the Sikh religion and the history of 1984 has been presented in a distorted manner. We had protested against this earlier also when its teaser came out, but the government did nothing against it. The censor board, instead of stopping it, gave it a green signal, and the program of the release of the movie was complete.”
"The SGPC, taking suo moto, has decided to protest against the film screening. The cinema owners did not put up the movie today. But we will have to see as the day goes by. If it goes on like this, it will be fine; otherwise, it will intensify if the film is released. The Punjab government will be responsible for the disturbance of law and order...because we wrote to the CM also, but there was no reply from him…” the member added. (sic)
The movie is being released today, January 17. Prior to this, SPGC president Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, accusing the film of being “politically motivated with an aim to defame Sikh community.”
“In a letter to Chief Secretary of the Punjab Government, it was clearly stated that 'Emergency' film will not be allowed to be shown in Punjab, as it remains politically motivated with the aim to defame Sikhs,” the letter read.
In a video posted by the committee's handle on social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Dhami said that they have submitted a demand letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, requesting him to stop the release of the film that “incorrectly” portrays Sikh characters.
“The role of Sikh characters, especially Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, in this film has been portrayed incorrectly. It always happens that the government often play with the emotions of Sikhs. This is why we had registered objections earlier before the government not to release the film. However, with the film's release scheduled in Punjab, we have submitted a letter to DC requesting him to stop the release,” Dhami wrote.
(With inputs from ANI)
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