Congress leader in Punjab moves High Court against ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’

On Tuesday, a Congress leader went to Punjab and Haryana High Court against the release of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. The movie is facing the ire of Congress leaders since its trailer launch. The movie is based on Sanjaya Baru’s book- The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh.

The petition against the release of the film was filed by the Punjab Sports Minister Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi’s son, Anumit Singh Sodhi, who is a member of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee.

As per the Indian Express report, the petitioner called the movie to be “challenging and questioning” the integrity and authority of the Prime Minister’s Office. The petition further says that the movie “completely destroys” the public image of former PM Manmohan Singh, “who has been the Prime Minister twice and the Finance Minister and during whose reign the country has grown”. Anumit has also questioned the timing of the release of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’.

Earlier in this week, the Delhi High Court rejected a request from a Delhi based fashion designer to ban the trailer of the ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’.

For more details: Delhi High Court rejects a ban on the trailer of The Accidental Prime Minister

The Maharashtra Youth Wing of the Congress party had also raised strong objections against the trailer of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’. It had also sent a letter to the producers accusing the movie of ‘incorrect presentation of facts’, and demanding a special screening of the film before release.

In the letter, they said, “If there is any unfactual scenes or story is being published in the film to malign the image of the Congress party and it’s leaders then we demand that same should be edited and deleted from the movie, which can be concluded by us only after viewing the movie.” The youth wing further added in the letter that they would not let the movie be screened anywhere in the country if their demands are not met. They have also threatened the producers to approach the court.

The Economic Times has quoted Satyajeet Tambe Patil, who leads the Maharashtra Youth Congress saying, “The way they have presented the characters (from the Congress) itself is unacceptable. Fake and unproven allegations have been used in the movie to discredit the party.”

This is not the first time that the Grand Old Party is displaying intolerance against creative freedom. Earlier, in July, a member of the Congress party had registered a complaint against the Sacred Games web Series. The complaint was registered against an unparliamentary comment making a reference to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (translated as ‘pussy’ in subtitles) in one of the scenes.

For more details: FIR against Sacred Games for ‘insulting’ Rajiv Gandhi illustrates Congress’ stand on freedom of expression

In July 2017, the Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam demanded Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Indu Sarkar to be screened before senior party leaders to abate their concerns of any defamatory references to the Gandhi family. A press conference for the promotion of Indu Sarkar had to be cancelled in Nagpur on July 16, 2017, after the Congress workers protested against the film. Earlier, a promotional event of the film at Pune was also cancelled following the protest of Congress workers. Indu Sarkar, set against the backdrop of the 1975-77 Emergency.

The Grand Old Party has a long history of suppressing freedom of speech and expression. The curb against freedom of speech and expression reached its zenith under the regime of Indira Gandhi. She imposed emergency in the country for 19 months. The leaders of the opposition were jailed, the newspapers were not allowed to report anything against the government, and the fundamental rights of citizens were also undermined.