Union Minister for Home Affairs Rajnath Singh and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju seemed to have formed a tag team of sorts when they came down heavily on filmmaker Anurag Kashyap for asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for visiting his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.
The tide is currently flowing against Pakistani artistes, who have been driven out of the country by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) with threats of physical violence in light of the strong patriotic winds in the country after the Uri terror attack, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed.
Since then, not only has the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) temporarily banned Pakistani artistes from working in India, but the Cinema Owners Exhibitors Association of India (COEAI) has also refused to let Au Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM), which features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, film release in single-screen theatres across four states in the country — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and parts of Karnataka.
Following the ban, Kashyap, an acclaimed filmmaker, said on Twitter on Sunday: "The World must learn from us.. We solve all our problems by blaming it on movies and banning it #ADHM With you on this @karanjohar [sic]." He tagged Karan Johar, who has directed ADHM, in the tweet. He went on to add: "@narendramodi Sir you haven't yet said sorry for your trip to meet the Pakistani PM.. It was dec 25th. Same time KJo was shooting ADHM? Why? [sic]"
Rajnath slams Kashyap
On Monday, Rajnath took umbrage to the filmmaker's remarks, and said: "This kind of a statement coming from a director-producer of Bollywood is condemnable. And the reason I say condemnable is because after the Uri attack there was a national demand to punish Pakistan and rightly the government along with the armed forces did that."
Rijiju follows suit
The MoS for the Home Ministry, in a tweet, said: "A new fashion has developed in India. A student or a film person can put a question or speak against PM without any logic to get into news.[sic]" His arrow of accusation was pointed at not only Kashyap but also Kanhaiya Kumar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who had led protests against Modi.
